Morocco’s PJD urges its candidates to resign from seats won in House of Councillors elections

RABAT - Morocco’s Islamist Party of Justice and Development called Wednesday for the resignation of its candidates who won three seats in the House of Councillors elections, citing irregularities in voting.

“The votes obtained by the party’s candidates greatly exceed strangely and unacceptably the votes that belong to the Justice and Development or that could devolve to it through its coordination with the Progress and Socialism Party locally, and are not commensurate with the results announced in the September 8 poll, which the party had previously expressed his position on it,” wrote Slimane El Omrani, First Deputy Secretary General of the PJD, in a statement published on his Facebook page.

“In this context, the General Secretariat deplores the unacceptable practices that led to the party's candidate lists obtaining that number of votes,” he said.

“To contribute to fortifying the democratic process in our country and maintaining the credibility of political action, the General Secretariat confirms that the party is not interested in membership in the House of Councillors, and invites the party’s candidates who have been declared “winners” to submit their resignations from the membership of the Council in accordance with the legal procedure in force,” he concluded.

The National Rally of Independents Party (RNI( came first with 27 seats while the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) came second with 19 seats, followed by the Istiqlal Party (PI) with 17 seats, according to provisional results announced Tuesday evening in a statement by the Interior Minister.

Former Prime Minister and Secretary General of the Justice and Development Party (PJD), Abdelilah Benkiran, also called Wednesday for the rejection of the three seats won in the October 5 House of Councillors elections.

Quoting a call with outspoken Benkiran, Amina Mailainine relayed the latter's assertions that he expressed his deep regrets and his pain at what happened during elections to the House of Councillors as several PJD leaders said the Islamist party was given seats it did not deserve at all.

Members of the resigning general secretariat, including Abdessamad El Idrissi and former minister Mohamed Najib Boulif said that the seats obtained were “undeserved and incomprehensible” and did not reflect the reality of the results obtained during the September 8 elections.

El Idrissi declared that "this absurdity must be rejected, the gift in politics must be refused and we must not accept these seats" while Boulif considered that the results were rigged.

“The invisible hand that interfered with the election results for the PJD on September 8, repeated the same thing on October 5!?!?” Boulif wrote on his Facebook page.