Moroccan Lawmaker Faces Cheating Allegations in High-Stakes Exam Scandal

Will the PJD succeed in washing the dirty linen in the family? Better yet, will it manage to wash the honor of its parliamentarian in the eyes of public opinion, in this case of cheating at the Bac exams? For the moment, the party seems to be in a dilemma, with the risk of squabbles between its members who fail to agree on the course of action. Indeed, according to the daily Akhbar Al Yaoum, the reactions are divergent within the PJD.

"While some members trivialize this incident, at the same time accusing the party’s political opponents of inflating its effect, others acknowledge that the deputy has indeed violated the law, while minimizing the scope of his act," writes the newspaper. And to add that "the latter, even if they admit that in view of the law there has been fraud, support, however, that nothing proves that the parliamentarian made use of his telephones".

To dispel the doubt, the transparency commission has already gone to work, ensuring that it will seize the telecom companies. In this case that is causing so much controversy, others still see a plot by political opponents, because it seems they support, "this incident would at most have warranted the person concerned a warning and the case would have been quickly forgotten, as is generally the case when it is an ’ordinary’ student," advances the daily.

According to the parliamentarian, who confided in the daily Akhbar Al Yaoum, the director of the Al Irfane high school in Rabat where he had indeed presented himself on Saturday, June 8 at 8 a.m. to take the French and Islamic education exams of the baccalaureate, would have "acted on instructions" that would have been "dictated" to him. Better, he would even have told him that he had been put in an "embarrassing situation". Furthermore, according to the parliamentarian, "the head of the Academy would even have apologized for the inconvenience caused by the dissemination of this information on social networks".

And the newspaper concludes that "in any case, the Islamist deputy did not need to pass his baccalaureate for any social or professional promotion. Because he already has several degrees and a telecommunications company that employs a thousand people".