A new Hespress survey showed that 79.42% of Moroccan respondents disagreed with the recent change in timing in the country (GMT+1), while only 20.58% voted in favor.
After a month of GMT time in Morocco on the occasion of Ramadan, 6,693 voters expressed their disagreement with the shift, while an average of 1,734 voters were happy with the timing, indicated the survey’s data.
The survey’s results showed that most Moroccans reject the extra hour change, echoing frequent and regular calls for the government to retract its decision to make Morocco’s legal time GMT+1.
The decision to switch the country’s time zone dates back to 2018, when then Minister of Administration Reform and Public Service, Mohamed Ben Abdelkader, held an exceptional Government Council in October to make day-light saving time, permanent.
Although 4 years have passed, Moroccans are still just as uncomfortable with the new timing, which to many feels “unnatural.” In respect with Islamic tradition, Morocco has transitioned back to the GMT timezone every year for Ramadan, which revives Moroccans’ request for a permanent revert to GMT.
Mohamed Ben Abdelkader and his government were well aware of Moroccans’ dissatisfaction with the switch, even in 2018. During the exceptional Government Council from that year, Ben Abdelkader said that his ministry “conducted an opinion poll among a large sample, and more than 65% expressed dissatisfaction with a permanent shift to GMT+1.”
“In this case, we had two choices: to return to GMT or to stay on GMT+1. We studied both scenarios, then we decided that in view of the economic benefits, it was better to be in GMT+1″, the minister concluded.
The government’s choice to prioritize the economic benefits of a time zone change over citizens’ comfort was a highly controversial matter at the time. And as the recent survey suggests, Moroccans are still largely unhappy with GMT+1.
However, despite ample social media campaigns and public dissatisfaction, the current government seems to be aligned with its predecessor on the timing matter, as most complaints are still met with silence.
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