Morocco Government - 1986

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Official name. Kingdom of Morocco

Type: constitutional monarchy (constitution adopted 1972)

Capital. Rabat

Political subdivisions: 36 provinces (does not include Western Sahara) and 2 prefectures (Rabat-Sale and Casablanca, which consists of 5 divisions)

NOTE: Morocco acquired administrative control in 1976 over the northern two-thirds of the former Spanish Sahara under an agreement with Mauritania, but the legal question of sovereignty over the area has yet to be determined. Spain’s role as coadministrator of the disputed territory ended in February 1976. Morocco moved to occupy and assert administrative control over the former Mauritanian-claimed (southern) sector of Western Sahara in August 1979, thereby establishing a fourth additional province in the Sahara.

Legal system: based on Islamic law and French and Spanish civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Chamber of Supreme Court; modern legal education at branches of Mohamed V University in Rabat and Casablanca and Karaouine University in Fes

National holiday: Independence Day, 18 November

Branches: constitution provides for Prime Minister and ministers named by and responsible to King; King has paramount executive powers; unicameral legislature (Chamber of Representatives), of which two-thirds of the members are directly elected and one-third are indirectly elected; judiciary independent of other branches

Government leaders- HASSAN II, King (since March 1961); Mohamed KARIM LAMRANI, Prime Minister (since November 1983)

Suffrage, universal over age 20

Elections provincial elections held lOJune 1983; elections for National Assembly held 14 September 1984

Political parties and leaders: Morocco has 14 political parties; the major ones are Istiqlal Party, M’Hamed Boucetta Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), Abderrahim Bouahid; Popular Movement (MP), Mahjoubi Aherdan; National Assembly of Independents (RNI) formed in October 1978 is progovernment grouping of previously unaffiliated deputies in parliament Ahmed Osman; National Democratic Party (PND), a splinter group from the RNI formed July 1981, Mohamed Arsalane El-Jadidi; Party for Progress and Socialism (PPS), legalized in August 1974, is front for Moroccan Communist Party (PCM), which was proscribed in 1959, Ali Yata; new promonarchy party—the Constitutional Union (UC), Maati Bouabid

Voting strength: progovernment parties hold absolute majority in Chamber of Representatives; with palace-oriented Popular Movement deputies, the King controls over two-thirds of the seats

Communists: 2,000 est.

Member of: AfDB, Arab League, EC (associate), FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB—Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, International Lead and Zinc Study Group, IMF IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, IPU, ITU, NAM, OIC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

NOTE: The information regarding Morocco on this page is re-published from the 1986 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Morocco 1986 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Morocco 1986 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.