Moroccan Parliament Cracks Down on Absentee Lawmakers with New Sanctions

The Bureau of the House of Representatives has activated the provisions of its internal regulations at its last meeting. Some parliamentary groups propose to review the ceiling of sanctions, which are limited to deductions from the allowances of the most absent deputies, reports the newspaper Al Massae. They also want to put in place mechanisms capable of verifying the authenticity of the medical certificates they provide to justify the many cases of absence.

While they no longer participate in the sessions of Parliament and the work of the commissions for more than two years, these elected representatives of the people continue to receive a monthly allowance of 30,000 dirhams. Among them are parliamentarians who reside abroad.

If the Bureau of the House of Representatives has decided to enforce the law on parliamentarians, it is because the warnings of President Habib El Malki have been unproductive. The Presidency of the House of Representatives had instructed the presidents of the parliamentary groups to apply Articles 105 and 106 of the internal regulations. In this sense, he had called for providing the Bureau of the House with the list of absent members without valid reason, so that disciplinary measures could be taken against them.

Article 105 of the internal regulations obliges members of the standing committees to participate in their work, while Article 106 mentions deductions from the monthly allowances depending on the days of absence of the parliamentarian.