On Monday, three advisors to King Mohammed VI chaired a meeting with the leaders of political parties represented in the two houses of Parliament. The meeting was dedicated to the topic of updating and detailing the autonomy plan, in implementation of the contents of the royal address to the nation immediately after the issuance of the recent historic Security Council resolution. The parties present were invited to present visions and proposals regarding updating and detailing this initiative, which preserves Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara in accordance with international law, and weaves together the legacy of history and the ambition of the future.

Those concerned affirm that the step of involving political parties in the project to update the autonomy of the southern regions has a set of implications and carries strong signals that ending the fabricated conflict over the Sahara requires national mobilization and effective participation from the party actor, who must bear his political and historical responsibility in this regard, in order to unify the internal front and strengthen the national consensus around this project, which the monarchy is counting on involving the nation in shaping, as an embodiment of a national strategy that is integrated in its pillars and actors in defending sovereignty and establishing the autonomy solution in the southern regions.

Promotion and participation

Political analyst Said Berkanan said that “the responsibility of parties in light of the critical stage related to the primary national issue has become more urgent to move from the role of defending the issue to the role of participation, initiative and proposal with a participatory approach imposed first and foremost by the role of the party and its function in the modern Moroccan political system.”

Berkanane noted, in a statement to Hespress, that “the entry of the leaders of the parties represented in Parliament into the Royal Palace to meet on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara after Morocco obtained the latest UN resolution on the Moroccan Sahara has several implications, the first of which is strengthening the internal front by renewing the alliance between the Palace and the parties and renewing their historical role in defending territorial integrity since the 1940s, starting with the liberation of Morocco from colonialism, passing through the recovery of the Moroccan Sahara, and ending with the consolidation of Moroccan sovereignty over it.”

The second implication is “moving the party’s relationship with the national cause from stagnation to initiative and proposal, and from the stage of defense linked to national events or international forums and seminars to the stage of participation and proposing management formulas for implementing autonomy in the Saharan regions of the Kingdom, meaning going beyond the traditional work of the party in the political system that focuses on managing political conflicts related to elections and obtaining parliamentary seats in order to head the government, and moving the issue of the Moroccan Sahara from a point included in the basic laws of parties as an issue that must be defended to an issue that must be participated in managing the formulas for implementing autonomy related to it,” the same speaker adds.

Berkanane continued, “There is a third indication that is manifested in making the autonomy file a measure in which the Moroccan nation participates through its representatives in Parliament, including those concerned with implementing autonomy from the citizens of the Saharan provinces, through the parties that represent them in Parliament, after the parliamentary elections in these provinces achieved the highest rates of political participation at the national level.”

Berkan stressed that “the final indication lies in the fact that the delicate stage that the issue of national unity is going through requires adding a proposing role and a consultative role for the parties after the framing role of citizens that the constitution defines for the parties, which means that party diplomacy has become part of the Moroccan state’s strategy in order to unify the internal political front and strengthen Morocco’s position by giving credibility to the national consensus of the proposal, and that it is a project of the nation and the product of collective management and not a decision issued by the royal palace.”

Responsibility and communication

Badr Boukhlouf, Professor of Public Law at Moulay Ismail University in Meknes and Executive Director of the National Center for Legal and Human Rights Studies, explained that “Morocco did not just decide the Sahara battle today, but had previously decided it by force of arms and by ruling its land. The issue remained only related to the diplomatic battle, which Morocco also won without firing a single shot. This has been the bet of the monarchy for some time.”

Boukhlouf told Hespress that “involving political parties in the project to update autonomy is a wise matter and a signal that these political organizations should take to bear their historical and political responsibility in strengthening communication with the grassroots, with citizens, and with civil society actors. This step should also be an opportunity for parties to review their communication policies and their absence from the scene at various moments of issues.”

He stressed that “the King’s openness to the party actor reflects the appreciation that the country’s monarch gives to parties as being legally responsible for framing citizens, and his deep belief that consensus on the autonomy plan as a national project must be built from societal bases. Therefore, Moroccan parties must work to find visions and address the needs of people in the Sahara and engage strongly and effectively in the royal vision for the southern provinces and for Morocco as a whole.”

The same university professor concluded that “implementing the autonomy plan and the involvement of political actors in this process will encourage Moroccans who have been misled in the Tindouf camps to return to their homeland. Therefore, these actors are required today to wake up from their deep slumber and change their way of working by strengthening communication and involving young talents, and not to be a burden on the reforms and initiatives launched by His Majesty King Mohammed VI for the Morocco of tomorrow.”