By Loubna Flah
Morocco World News
Casablanca, May 15, 2013It seems that the Party of Justice and Development entered in a deep political meditation despite the political crisis that is crippling the Moroccan political landscape.
Indeed, the PJD officials refused to make any public statement about the withdrawal of the Istiqlal Party (IP) from the government coalition.
The Moroccan daily Le Matin reported that one of the PJD officials who attended last Tuesday closed meeting between the PJD members and the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) said “Only, Mr. Benkirane is authorized to make public statements on the issue at hand since it is a highly critical matter”
The PJD official website seems to be out of sync with the political crisis. No comment was made about the growing rift between the PJD and its closest ideological ally, the IP.
Nevertheless, the PJD expressed reserves towards the use of Article 42 of the constitution and announced that the convening of new elections ahead of time is totally ruled out.
Despite the fiery attacks on its mode of governance, its cooperation with the parties forming the coalition and its handling of the economic downturn, the PJD seems to have opted for silence instead of facing the IP’s accusations.
Similarly, the PPS adheres also to the principle of passive reaction. Its secretary general made few moderate statements asserting that king Mohammaed VI has the arbitrage prerogative.
Since its election at the head of the IP, Mr. Chabat has been calling for a cabinet reshuffle, but his demands fell in deaf ears. He considered that the IP should be assigned more important ministerial portfolios commensurate to its ranking in the election.
If Chabat’s demands are met, the PPS will be the first party under fire. It is noteworthy that the PPS was assigned 4 ministerial portfolios while it has won only 18 parliamentary seats.
Now that the IP has made its threats more real, the reconfiguration of the government make up seems to be the only option on table for the PJD if they are to avoid a further lengthening of the crisis.
The PJD was taken by surprise by the IP’s decision threats to pull out of the coalition.
“For a party that is experimenting for the first time with cooperative modes of management, the situation requires patience and well thought reactions so as to handle this “political cliff” with lesser damages for the government’s viability as well as for the PJD’s reputation,” a sympathizer of the PJD told MWN.