Salafist Backlash Contributes to PJD’s Stunning Election Defeat in Morocco

Contrary to expectations, the Islamists of the Salafiya, traditional supporters of the PJD, turned their backs on the party of the Lamp in the last legislative, municipal and regional elections, reports Assabah. At the origin of this sanction vote, the unfulfilled promises. The first promise dates back to 2011. Mustapha Ramid had promised the Salafist leader Yassine Lemless that the Islamist party of the lamp would work for the release of Salafist prisoners and their rapid release. This promise was not kept.

Mohamed Salah Tamek, general delegate to the Prison Administration and Reintegration is the official who had finally opened a dialogue with the Salafists and signed an agreement with them with a view to the release of the largest number of them, in exchange for their renunciation of terrorism and extremist ideas.

Second promise: on the eve of the 2016 elections, Abdelilah Benkirane, then head of government, had declared that his program would take into account reforms proposed by the Salafists. The latter had to note that this second promise was not kept. Frustrated, the Salafists decided to vote massively against the party of the Lamp. A sanction vote that is largely at the origin of the collapse of the PJD after a decade of power management.