Morocco’s Left Alliance parliamentary group has reiterated that it abstained from voting in the October 13 session to elect the speaker of the House of Representatives, in which Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) candidate Ahmed Touizi won with 220 votes against 59 for Justice and Development Party (PJD) candidate Idriss El Azami El Idrissi.
A total of 369 lawmakers took part in the vote.
In a statement, the eight-member parliamentary group said its position was consistent with the political line and democratic, progressive principles of the Left Alliance, which brings together the Democratic Left Federation and the Unified Socialist Party.
The group said the abstention reaffirmed its political independence and its refusal to join temporary political alignments that, in its view, did not reflect its long-term democratic struggle or vision for society.
The alliance said it rejected granting legitimacy to what it called a “numerical dictatorship” lacking political legitimacy in imposing its candidates.
“Abstention is not a neutral position; it is an expression of political independence that rejects a forced choice between two projects, neither of which represents the horizon of democratic and progressive change for which the Moroccan people are struggling,” the statement said.
Representatives of the two left-wing parties also reaffirmed their commitment to pursuing an independent democratic opposition, championing the concerns of ordinary citizens and defending freedom, dignity and social justice, as well as an independent and effective legislature capable of exercising its legislative, oversight and accountability functions.
The parliamentary group also strongly condemned what it described as the suppression of its right to speak on a point of order by the interim chair presiding over the session to elect the House speaker.
It denounced what it called a democratic regression, accusing the interim chair of failing to count the group’s blank ballots as abstentions in accordance with parliamentary rules, conventions and practice.
The alliance said the handling of the ballots had given the electoral procedure what it described as additional, artificial legitimacy.
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