Nabila Mounib: Islamist Parties Manipulate Religion for Political Gains

Rabat – Morocco’s Islamist parties, which include the recently re-elected Justice and Development Party (PJD), use the nation’s religious identity for electoral gains, according to Nabila Mounib, the Secretary-General of the Unified Socialist Party (PSU), on Thursday.

“The Islamists manipulate religion, which makes up the foundation of our society, for political purposes,” she said, during an event on women in the Moroccan political scene in Tanger at the HEM business school.

The PJD won the most seats during the October 7^th national elections, with the secular Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), taking second place.

The PSU had boycotted the 2011 elections, which took place after the adoption of the post-Arab Spring constitution, sue to concerns that the new framework did not do enough to embrace democratic values.

During Thursday’s event, Mounib said the Democratic Left Federation (FGD), which comprises of the PSU and two other far left parties, would continue the movement to make Morocco a parliamentary monarchy, akin to the United Kingdom, where the monarch holds limited powers.

The PJD’s government has overseen domestic issues over the past five years, but Morocco’s foreign policy has largely been under the control of King Mohammed VI, who has opened up trade and tourism to foreigners and their companies.

Mounib, who leads the only Moroccan political party with a female leader, added that leftist parties would win national legislative elections, were they held today, due to the unpopularity of ongoing discussions to tamper with the tuition-free nature of public education.

On Wednesday, Mounib said talks to implement tuition fees, even if just for students from families in the upper socioeconomic classes or for post-secondary education, should merit “a revolution on a national scale.”