MORROCO: LOWER HOUSE LEADER SEEKS GREATER

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000385

SIPDIS

STATE FOR H, NEA/RA, NEA/PI AND NEA/MAG
AID/W FOR DCHA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV EAID PHUM KDEM MO
SUBJECT: MORROCO: LOWER HOUSE LEADER SEEKS GREATER
ENGAGEMENT WITH U.S. CONGRESS

REF: CASABLANCA 0074

Classified By: Charge Robert P. Jackson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: During an April 28 meeting with Charge,
lower house of Parliament President Mustapha Mansouri made a
strong appeal for increased contact between Moroccan
Parliamentarians and Members of Congress to facilitate better
understanding of Morocco's claims to Western Sahara.
Mansouri predicted that local/communal elections in June,
which indirectly determine the makeup of the upper house of
Parliament, will not significantly change Morocco's political
landscape. Victorious candidates from Mansouri's National
Rally of Independents party (RNI) will likely form local
alliances with those of the Party of Authenticity and
Modernity (PAM) after the elections, but they generally will
not run joint tickets. Mansouri added that the Government
will probably re-table controversial legislation to reform
the traffic code that had recently been withdrawn from the
Chamber of Councilors, agenda because of labor union
strikes. End Summary.

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Appeal for Increased Contact with Congress
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2. (SBU) On April 28, Charge, PolCouns and D/PolCouns called
on Moroccan Chamber of Deputies President Mustapha Mansouri,
who was joined by Seventh Vice President (PAM) Hamid
Narjisse. Mansouri made a strong appeal for increased
contact between Moroccan Parliamentarians and Members of
Congress to explain the Moroccan position on the Western
Sahara. Mansouri encouraged visits by Senators and
Representatives to Rabat and asked Charge to promote
parliamentary visits to Washington, D.C. He said that the
goal of these exchanges would be to establish "durable
relationships," which could then be used to better explain
Morocco's territorial claims to Western Sahara. He had
intended to visit Washington in April but understood there
was a crowded calendar this year. He would not be able to
travel to the U.S. in the near future due to the June 12
local communal elections. After that, he would be focused on
the process of indirect elections, whereby the successful
communal councilors would elevate some of their peers to
regional councils and the upper house of Parliament.


3. (SBU) On Western Sahara, Mansouri noted no Arab states
had recognized the Polisario,s shadow Sahrawi Arab
Democratic Republic (SADR). He also asserted that no one
questions the claims of other North African countries like
Algeria, Libya and Egypt to large swaths of the Sahara,
despite having similar indigenous inhabitants living in them;
"why should Moroccan claims be treated any differently?" He
excoriated Algeria for its recalcitrance on the Western
Sahara question and inability to break out of "1960s
paradigms." He contrasted the youth, dynamism, and
reform-oriented mentality of Moroccan Ministers to the aged,
uncreative and reactionary attitudes of Algerian equivalents,
"who stay mired in rhetoric about the 'war of liberation' and
the National Liberation Front."

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Communal Elections and Party Alliances
--------------


4. (SBU) Mansouri said that his Rally of National
Independents (RNI) party generally would not form a local
alliances or joint tickets with the Party of Authenticity and
Modernity (PAM) to contest the June 12th local/communal
elections, but afterwards they could form coalitions in these
councils. While they have a joint parliamentary bloc, the
two parties remain independent. He said that RNI candidates
would be run on their own party list without any coordination
with PAM, to maximize the potential electoral wins at the
communal level. With some 32 parties in Morocco's political
system, and multimember districts, running separately had
numerical advantages. All parties must then seek coalition
with others at all levels of government, local to national,
to form ruling majorities, Mansouri explained. He said that
PAM and RNI, being ideologically similar, were natural
allies. Narjisse, an uncle of PAM leader-in-fact Fouad Ali
el Himma, nodded his assent.


5. (SBU) Mansouri lauded the prospect of more women entering
politics as a result of the recent agreement reached among
political parties to reserve 12 percent of communal seats for
women in the coming election. He also praised U.S.-provided
training, through the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and
International Republican Institute (IRI),for pre-election

and post-election training of Moroccan women
candidates/politicians in electioneering and professional
development.


6. (SBU) Mansouri predicted that the communal elections
would not alter much the political landscape of the country.
While allowing that the introduction of more women
politicians would be a new dynamic, Mansouri considered the
party balance at the communal level and, by extension,
national level to be stable and unlikely to shift much.
(Note: A large portion of members of the upper house of
Parliament are chosen indirectly, though a series of internal
elections, from among councilors elected first at the
communal level, somewhat like the way Senators were elected
in the early United States. End Note.)

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Readout on Public Rejection of the Traffic Code Reform
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7. (SBU) When asked about the impact of the withdrawal from
consideration of the proposed traffic code, resulting from
strikes that paralyzed commerce in Morocco several weeks ago
(reftel),Mansouri, himself a former Minister of Transport,
was optimistic. Mansouri said that the law was rejected by a
coalition of labor unions that criticized the law for its
increase in fines and jail terms for traffic violations.
Striking unions characterized the penalty increases as
exorbitant and an opportunity for increased graft among
Morocco's police, known for their bribe-taking. Mansouri
said that while some of the criticisms were valid, the
legislation had been designed to lower traffic fatalities, a
significant problem in Morocco. (Note: Over 4,000 people
died in 2008 from traffic-related accidents. End Note.) The
legislation had many good aspects including mandatory rest
periods for truck drivers. Mansouri said that the Government
had done a poor job of educating and lobbying labor unions
before taking the matter to a vote in the upper house.
Mansouri said that the legislation will likely be altered,
i.e., with lower traffic fines and other modifications, and
re-tabled in Parliament at an unspecified future date.
(Note: On May 4, Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and
Environment Amina Benkhadra told Charge that the Government
realized that it needed to do a better job of explaining the
advantages of the new traffic code and countering the
outright lies that opponents are spreading. End Note.)


8. (U) Finally, Mansouri thanked the United States for the
assistance that we have provided through USAID,s
Parliamentary Strengthening Project implemented by the State
University of New York (SUNY) and the two party institutes,
IRI and NDI. He suggested that we discuss with Narjisse ways
to build upon that assistance.


9. (C) Comment: Mansouri's appeal for greater contact
between Moroccan Parliamentarians and Members of Congress was
a real priority focused more on Western Sahara than promoting
parliamentary reform. Like most politicians, Mansouri, is
focusing his energies on internal party matters and the
upcoming communal elections. End Comment.


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Jackson