PJD Prepares for Potential Shift to Opposition as Moroccan Elections Loom

A few months before the 2021 legislative elections, the sky is darkening for the PJD. The Islamist party fears a debacle and is preparing for all eventualities. On the ground, it is already working on its probable return to the opposition, both at the parliamentary level and at the level of local authorities, reports Al Ahdath Al Maghribia. The secretary general of the party of the lamp set the tone during a meeting on May 22. Saâdeddine El Othmani prepared the psychology of the party’s local leaders for this eventuality.

Several factors are leading the party to consider this option. After two terms in power, the PJD’s popularity has plummeted, divisions within the party have worsened, and many executives refuse to run in the September 8 election. To these factors are added the change in the method of calculating the electoral quotient and the abolition of the electoral threshold.

El Othmani also reaffirmed his party’s position on this electoral law reform. "The PJD opposes, and will continue to do so, the abolition of the electoral threshold and the new electoral quotient, which it considers undemocratic," he hammered. In the eyes of the PJD leader, it is "an unprecedented Balkanization operation of the political scene".