Moroccan Islamist Party PJD Faces Steep Decline After Years in Power, Expert Says

"There were signs heralding this decline. We could clearly see that the PJD was in a difficult situation, as it had already suffered a defeat in the union elections in June, with a strong decline in the elections concerning civil servants and particularly in its stronghold of the National Education. The PJD was therefore losing its audience within its activist base," says David Goeury in an interview with RFI.

He also mentions the regression of the Islamist party in the professional elections in August. "The PJD candidates had the lowest conversion rate between the number of candidates and the number of elected officials in the chambers of crafts, commerce, industry and services. So the PJD was also losing its urban electorate," analyzes the academic, noting that the Lamp party, which had managed to mobilize more than 16,000 candidates in the 2015 municipal elections, had lost more than 7,600, or 47% of its candidates.

The total debacle of the Islamist party is also explained by other factors. "It seems that the voters have sanctioned a modest record at the head of the major Moroccan cities. And we even see that the PJD activist cores did not mobilize to defend the party’s record. There was also an extremely strong internal criticism about the record of these commune presidents who held a seat in Parliament, who were ousted by the PJD itself and did not run again."