Moroccan Parties Push for Elderly Quota in Parliament, Government Hesitates

A quota for the "elderly" of the parties to access the Moroccan Parliament. Many political parties are attached to it. The proposal does not receive the approval of the Ministry of the Interior, reports the daily Al Akhbar.

This was already the case before the last legislative elections, on the grounds that the Constitutional Council had considered that the adoption of the national list of women and young people was only a temporary measure to encourage certain categories of the population to integrate political and parliamentary action.

If the youth list did not pass in public opinion, that of women was on the other hand seen as common sense, because politically and socially acceptable. It is based on positive discrimination. A choice which, however, has not remained without criticism: the selection criteria lack rigor; family relationships took precedence over skills and political potential.

According to the same source, the integration of women into the national list in the elections passed in public opinion until the elections of November 25, 2011. 2011 which saw young people take the field in several countries through the "Arab Spring". We could no longer evolve without counting on young people in parliament. The political parties had to revise the organic law of the House of Representatives to increase the number of deputies from 325 to 395, reserving 60 seats for the national list of women and 50 for that of young people.

According to the Constitutional Council, the principles that respect citizenship, freedom of voting, candidacy through a general election based on fairness, equal opportunities and the fight against all forms of discrimination are the only ones that are worth it. And not those of exception guided by circumstantial and temporary motives.