PALACE PREVENTS ISLAMIST PARTY FROM TAKING

C O N F I D E N T I A L CASABLANCA 000168

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/19/2019
TAGS: MO PGOV PHUM
SUBJECT: PALACE PREVENTS ISLAMIST PARTY FROM TAKING
MAYORALTY OF OUJDA

REF: A. 09 RABAT 435

B. 09 RABAT 607

C. 09 RABAT 431

Classified By: CG Elisabeth Millard for Reasons 1.4(b) and (d)

1 (C) SUMMARY: The following provides new details on
the incidents initially reported in Ref B concerning
the recent intervention by Moroccan authorities in
the selection of the mayor in Oujda. Despite
winning the plurality of votes in the June municipal
elections in Oujda, the regional capitol of Eastern
Morocco, the Islamist Party of Justice and
Development (PJD) was prevented by the Ministry of
Interior (MOI) from forming a coalition that would
have given it control of the presidency of the city
council. The MOI, allegedly at the behest of the
Royal Palace, used harassment, intimidation, and
procedural rules against the PJD and its political
allies, which culminated in a violent confrontation
and serious injuries to a leading PJD figure. The
ensuing drama provoked the intervention of the
French Ambassador, and a charge of "terrorism" by
national party leaders. The incident demonstrates
the extent to which the Government of Morocco (GOM)
was willing to go to prevent the PJD from taking
power in a region with significant government
investment that is considered to be strategically
sensitive. END SUMMARY.

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Election Math: Counting to 33
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2. (U) Oujda, a city of nearly half a million
inhabitants, is the regional capital of the Eastern
Province and sits 14 kilometers from Algeria.
Despite the closure of the border in 1994, the
markets in Oujda remain full of cheap smuggled
gasoline and foodstuffs from Algeria. (Ref. A).
There are 400,000 eligible voters in Oujda of whom
220,000 were registered for the 2009 municipal
elections. The final tally of votes cast was 50,000
(a 23 percent participation rate) of which nearly
14,000 were invalidated for improper marking. The
city council consists of 59 regular council seats
plus an additional six for the newly created women's
list. The 65 council members elect the mayor. The
elections resulted in the following distribution:
the PJD 21 seats, the Party of Authenticity an
Modernity (PAM) 16 seats, the Popular Movement (MP)
14, the Istiqlal Party 13, and Rally of National
Independents (RNI) with one.


3. (C) Zahreddine Taybi, the editor-in-chief of the
Oujda-based weekly newspaper Al Hadath Ach Charki
(Eastern Events),recently told poloff that the PJD
began discussion with Istiqlal to form a coalition
but negotiations quickly broke down over Istiqlal's
insistence that its candidate Omar Hejira, brother
to the current Minister of Housing Ahmed Toufiq
Hejira, be given the presidency (i.e., mayor's
slot). When the council met for the first round of
negotiations on June 25, the PJD had managed to
convince 7 of the 14 Popular Movement Party (MP)
Representatives to support their candidate along
with 3 members of Party of Authenticity and
Modernity (PAM) and the sole RNI representative,
Rachida Ismaili. This coalition brought the PJD's
total to 32 and hence one vote short of the majority
they would need to control the council. Taybi
claimed that the MOI was closely following the
negotiations and had barred journalists and the
public from attending. When the PJD was one vote
short, the representative of the Wali abruptly
adjourned the proceedings on the grounds that a
majority had not been reached.


4. (C) According to Taybi, the Government of Morocco
(GOM) and the PAM and MP party leadership of the
members who had defected began pressuring the
members to withdraw support from a PJD coalition.
While PAM members asserted to other party members in
a low profile manner the King's alleged preference
for a PAM-led coalition, the representatives from
the MP and RNI that supported the PJD coalition
complained to the press of intimidation, harassment,
and pressure from the security forces. Taybi
reported an incident whereby the police raided the
residence of PJD council member Abdelaziz Aftati

while he hosted the dissident MP and PAM members and
initially accused him of forcibly kidnapping council
members.


5. (C) Meanwhile, the national party leaders
including the Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi from
Istiqlal, Abdelillah Benkirane from the PJD, and
Mohammed Cheikh Biadillah from PAM, all traveled to
Oujda in the hope of resolving the dispute in their
favor. PAM and Istiqlal brokered a deal along with
the other 7 MP members to form a coalition that
would exclude the PJD from power and seat Omar
Hejira as the council's president.

-------------- ---
You Can't Have an Islamist-free Election without
Breaking Some Heads
-------------- ---


6. (C) On June 29, the city council met for a second
time and the Istiqlal/PAM/MP coalition successfully
created a majority. The PJD members became very
upset and stormed out of the building shouting and
protesting the surprise outcome. Outside, the
police had already erected barricades around the
municipal building. In the ensuing confrontation, a
number of people were injured including Boubker
Nourredine, a high ranking PJD member and a lawyer,
who Taybi reported was struck on the head by a
police baton. Nourredine suffered a fractured skull
and had to have emergency surgery that evening. In
spent three days in a coma while in the intensive
care section of the local hospital. In Addition,
other members, including a female delegate from the
PJD, were injured less gravely and temporarily
detained.

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French Intervention
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7. (C) In response to the attack, the PJD's Aftati
sent a letter to the French Ambassador in Rabat
asking the French government to intervene to provide
medical care for Nourredine and his family.
Nourredine is a French national by his birth in
Algeria prior to Algerian independence. Taybi
alleged that the French Ambassador contacted
Minister of Interior Chakib Benmoussa to demand an
explanation as to the events and injury. The MOI
subsequently issued a statement accusing, "certain
foreign powers of interfering in internal affairs of
Morocco." The line was picked up by other political
parties and Aftati was roundly pilloried by the
media for his alleged "treason" by appealing to
Morocco's former colonial master. Shortly
thereafter Benkirane announced that Aftati had
resigned from the PJD.

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The Aftermath
--------------


8. (C) Omar Hejira has assumed his position as the
new mayor and contacts in Oujda report the situation
is calm. The seven dissident members of the MP,
including Fadwa Manouni, were expelled from their
party. Aftati may have resigned from the PJD but to
date has not resigned his seat on the city council.
Nourredine awoke from his coma and is recuperating.
In an interview with a Moroccan daily, he said that
on the advice of PJD Party Chief Benkirane, he would
be bringing a civil suit against the governor's
office in Oujda.


9. (C) Taybi and other interlocutors were not
surprised by the intervention of the MOI into the
elections but criticized the "awkward way" the
government mishandled the matter. Mohammed Amarti,
a professor at Mohammed I University in Oujda and a
local member of the human rights organization OMDH,
voiced the conventional wisdom that Oujda was too
important for the Makhzen to allow the PJD to
control. On the one hand, Amarti said, the
government has poured significant investment into
Oujda since 2003, especially major tourist
developments planned for the Mediterranean coast
(Ref C). Imagine an Islamist party that wants to
limit alcohol consumption and encourage modest dress
controlling tourist resorts, he said. He also added

that the GOM is concerned about the security of its
border with Algeria and possible infiltration of
arms and salafist terrorists.

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COMMENT
--------------


10. (C) Morocco deserves praise in general for the
transparency of its elections were held in 2007 and

2009. However, the security forces direct and
violent intervention into the formation of Oujda's
city council coalitions shows that the Palace is
still intent on tightly controlling the eventual
outcome of elections. While numerous political
interlocutors, including from the GOM, like to paint
the PJD as an "Islamist bogeyman" that cannot be
trusted with the security of the state, there is
little evidence from the PJD's control of small
cities and minor towns to support this argument. A
more likely explanation is that the PJD is the one
party the Palace does not adequately control, given
its significant patrician support and ability to
mobilize the population - as evidenced in the
massive protests against the situation in Gaza late
last year.


11. This message was coordinated with Embassy Rabat.

MILLARD