Popular Movement (Morocco)

The Popular Movement (Arabic: الحركة الشعبية‎; Berber: ⴰⵎⵓⵙⵙⵓ ⴰⵎⴷⵏⴰⵏ; French: Mouvement populaire) is a royalist and traditionalist rural-focused political party in Morocco. It is a member of Liberal International.

Popular Movement

ⴰⵎⵓⵙⵙⵓ ⴰⵎⴷⵏⴰⵏ
الحركة الشعبية
General SecretaryMohand Laenser
FounderAbdelkrim al-Khatib and Mahjoubi Aherdane
Founded1957 (1957)
Headquarters66 rue Patrice Lumumba, Rabat, Morocco
IdeologyRoyalism[1]
Rural interests
International affiliationLiberal International
Regional affiliationAfrica Liberal Network
Amazigh culture
House of Representatives
27 / 395
House of Councillors
10 / 120
Website
www.alharaka.ma

History

The Popular Movement was founded in 1958[2] by the Berber tribal chief Mahjoubi Aherdane with help from Abdelkrim al-Khatib who founded later a splinter party (Mouvement populaire démocratique et constitutionnel) that became the Justice and Development Party. It was initially a rural party with conservative and tribal orientation,[3] that unconditionally supported the monarchy[4] and aimed at countering nationalist Istiqlal Party.[3] Although the party has been dominated by Berber speakers, it has not developed a distinct Berber agenda.[5]

The present party results from a 25 March 2006 merger between the main party which had kept the original name and two splinter parties, the National Popular Movement (Mouvement National Populaire, Alharaka alwatania ashaabia) and the Democratic Union (Union démocratique).[6][7]

The party is a full member of Liberal International, which it joined at the latter's Dakar Congress in 2003.[8]

In the parliamentary election held on 27 September 2002, the party won 27 out of the total 325 seats. It improved its standing in the parliamentary election held on 7 September 2007, winning 41 out of 325 seats.[9]

The party won 32 out of 325 seats in the parliamentary election held in November 2011, being the sixth party in the parliament.[10]

Electoral results

Moroccan Parliament
House of Representatives
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/– Leader
1963* 1,159,932 (#1) 34.8
69 / 144
–
Ahmed Bahnini
1970 ? (#1) 25.0
60 / 240
4
Abdelkrim al-Khatib
1977 738,541 (#2) 14.64
15 / 264
45
Abdelkrim al-Khatib
1984 695,020 (#3) 15.54
47 / 301
32
Abdelkrim al-Khatib
1993 751,864 (#5) 12.1
51 / 333
4
Mohand Laenser
1997 659,331 (#4) 10.3
40 / 325
11
Mohand Laenser
2002 ? (#5) 8.31
27 / 325
13
Mohand Laenser
2007 426,849 (#3) 9.3
41 / 325
14
Mohand Laenser
2011 354,468 (#6) 7.5
32 / 395
11
Mohand Laenser
2016 (#5) 6.08
27 / 395
5
Mohand Laenser
Notes
  • In 1963, the MP run under the FDIC.

References
  1. Willis, Michael J. (2012), Politics and Power in the Maghreb: Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco from Independence to the Arab Spring, C. Hurst & Co., p. 125
  2. "Organizations". Maroc. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  3. James N. Sater (2012), "New wine in old bottles: Political parties under Mohammed VI", Contemporary Morocco: State, Politics and Society under Mohammed VI, Routledge, p. 11
  4. Marvine Howe (2005), Morocco: The Islamist Awakening and Other Challenges, Oxford University Press, p. 99
  5. Willis, Michael J. (2008-01-15). "The Politics of Berber (Amazigh) Identity: Algeria and Morocco Compared". In Zoubir, Yahia H.; Amirah-Fernández, Haizam (eds.). North Africa: Politics, Region, and the Limits of Transformation. Routledge. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-134-08740-2.
  6. M’Hamed Hamrouch, Mahjoubi Aherdane accusé d’avoir provoqué le retrait du MP du gouvernement, Aujourd'hui Le Maroc, 19 October 2008
  7. Hicham Bennani, Mouvement populaire: Prémices d’un éclatement, Le Journal Hebdomadaire, 11 April 2009
  8. Entry on the Popular Movement Archived 2007-11-09 at the Wayback Machine Liberal International.
  9. "Moroccans favor conservative party instead of ushering in Islamic party", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), 9 September 2007.
  10. "Morocco". European Forum. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
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