MB split in Morocco hits their political party

Doaa Imam

The Justice and Development Party (AKP), an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood in Morocco, continues to be divided into two fronts over the current party leader. The first of the two fronts includes the hawks of the group – takes the ranks of Saad al-Din al-Othmani as prime minister, while the second front takes the side of Former Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane.

The beginning of the crisis

El Othmani attacked some of the leaders of his party; because of publications on the social networking sites that insult the party, in reference to the former Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, expressing his displeasure of what he called protrusions and statements that are far from general context.

The Secretary-General of the current Justice and Development Party said in a statement on Saturday, August 3, 2019, that those are estimated at between 10 and 20 people out of the 40,000 members of the party, stressing that the party will take the necessary decisions as required by the internal regulations.

This is a sign of the imminent issuance of sanctions against a number of party leaders and members who oppose the direction of the current General Secretariat headed by the former Secretary-General of the party.

On Wednesday, July 31, 2019, a number of the Justice and Development Youth, the former prime minister and secretary-general of the party, met in the city of Quneitra, raising the slogan “People want back Benkirane.” This came at a sensitive time for the party that has led the Moroccan government since 2011 to internal conflicts between two powerful currents, one supporting the current Secretary-General and a group of his ministers, while the other is supported by Abdel-Ilah Benkirane and his positions.

French education: The door to further division

The situation broke out with a law making the French language dominate the educational curricula. Benkirane called for non-voting, while the final position of the el-Ottomani wing was to vote in favor of the law with reservations to controversial articles 2 and 31.

In a statement to the Reference, Abdellatif Wahbi, member of the Political Bureau of the Party of Authenticity and Modernity of Morocco, said: “Benkirane wants to blow up the Justice and Development Conference in 2021 to reach the General Secretariat of the party and thus settle his political calculations with Saad al-Din al-Othmani. The current remains strong structured, by virtue of its characterization of its weight.”

He pointed out that the Justice and Development Party is witnessing a major political transformation and is living on the gate of the end of Benkirane. The man is intelligent, but he is expected to vote in the future because he only initiates when he is supported by major political forces.