Popular Movement (Morocco)

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Infobox political party

The Popular Movement (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx, MP) is a royalist and traditionalist rural-focused political party in Morocco. It is a member of Liberal International. The party has a history of cooperating with two other parties with a liberal orientation, the National Rally of Independents and the Constitutional Union, since 1993.

History

The Popular Movement was founded in 1957 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.<ref name=":1" /> It was initially a rural party with conservative and tribal orientation,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> that unconditionally supported the monarchy<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> and aimed at countering the nationalist Istiqlal Party.<ref name=":0" /> Despite them being socially conservative, the party claimed to be Islamic socialists.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref>

They advocated for the distribution of land previously owned by French to tribes and local communities and that communal lands be administrated by communal traditions. They also advocated for the recognition of Berber customary law and a school system where Berber dialects were taught. The Popular Movement was dominated by Berber speakers and had the strongest support from rich peasants and large landowners and was the most active political organisation in the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces.<ref name=":2" /> Despite this, it did not have a distinctly Berber agenda and was the major party in the ruling coalition that instituted Arabization in 1965.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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) and the Democratic Union (Union démocratique).<ref>M’Hamed Hamrouch, Mahjoubi Aherdane accusé d’avoir provoqué le retrait du MP du gouvernement, Aujourd'hui Le Maroc, 19 October 2008</ref><ref>Hicham Bennani, Mouvement populaire: Prémices d’un éclatement, Le Journal Hebdomadaire, 11 April 2009</ref>

The party is a full member of Liberal International, which it joined at the latter's Dakar Congress in 2003.<ref>Entry on the Popular Movement Template:Webarchive Liberal International.</ref>

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.<ref>"Moroccans favor conservative party instead of ushering in Islamic party", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), 9 September 2007.</ref>

The party won 32 out of 325 seats in the parliamentary election held in November 2011, being the sixth party in the parliament.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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	Template:Composition bar	check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Ahmed Bahnini {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
1970	? (#1)	25.0	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 4 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Abdelkrim al-Khatib {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
1977	738,541 (#2)	14.64	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 45 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Abdelkrim al-Khatib {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
1984	695,020 (#3)	15.54	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 32 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Abdelkrim al-Khatib {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
1993	751,864 (#5)	12.1	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 4 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Mohand Laenser {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
1997	659,331 (#4)	10.3	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 11 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Mohand Laenser {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
2002	? (#5)	8.31	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 13 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Mohand Laenser {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
2007	426,849 (#3)	9.3	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 14 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Mohand Laenser {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
2011	354,468 (#6)	7.5	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 11 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Mohand Laenser {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
2016	397,085 (#5)	6.1	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 5 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Mohand Laenser {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
2021	534,292 (#5)	7.1	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Mohand Laenser {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Notes

• In 1963, the MP run under the FDIC.

External links

• Popular Movement official site