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Rabat – Saad Eddine El Othmani, former head of government and secretary-general of Morocco’s Justice and Development Party (PJD), congratulated Abdelilah Benkirane on his re-election as the leader of the political party.
In a Facebook post, El Othmani wished Benkirane the “best” and a “speedy recovery,” saying that his re-election was a “democratic moment that represents a rare model in national political life.”
On Saturday, the extraordinary congress of the PJD elected Benkirane by 1,112 votes or 89% of the 1,250 voting party members.
The former PM and party leader crushed senior PJD members like Abdellah Bouanou and Abdelaziz El Omari to win his re-election bid.
Benkirane, a popular figure in Moroccan politics, reclaimed the leadership of the PJD after the party suffered a heavy loss in the 2021 general elections.
PJD was dramatically defeated in Morocco’s latest general elections after ruling the country’s government coalition and parliament for a decade.
The Islamist party won only 13 seats in the September 8 poll (down from 107 in the 2016 elections). This historically poor electoral performance allowed the National Rally of Independents (RNI), the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), and Al Istiqlal to become the dominant forces in the parliament and take over the government coalition.
Benkirane served as the secretary general of the PJD twice between 2008 and 2017. He was also Morocco’s head of government from November 2011 to April 2017.
El Othmani, one of his longtime deputy leaders in the PJD upper echelons, succeeded the eclectic Benkirane as both head of PJD and Prime Minister in 2017.
King Mohammed VI appointed El Othmani as head of government after Benkirane failed to form a coalition government.
Despite being sidelined for his apparent inability to cooperate with other political parties, Benkirane remained a vocal voice in Moroccan politics.
As the voice of the ultra-conservative wings of the PJD who repeatedly took issue with El Othmani’s conciliatory politics, Benkirane savagely criticized the former’s government for the adoption of French in primary education, the legalization of cannabis, and the diplomatic rapprochement with Israel.
His re-election has elicited mixed reactions from watchers of Moroccan affairs.
While some see in Benkirane’s political comeback a feeble statement from a defeated and increasingly irrelevant political force, others have analyzed it as PJD’s determination to stay relevant by returning to its original identity.
But it remains to be seen whether his signature conservative right-wing populism can help the PJD regain the popular confidence it needs to again become a force to reckon with in Morocco’s changing political landscape.
