Political Overview: Morocco is a constitutional monarchy led by King Mohammad VI, who succeeded his father, King Hassan II, in 1999. Despite the creation of an elected bicameral parliament with somewhat expanded powers in the constitution of 1996, the king continues to hold the ultimate authority.

Constitution: Morocco’s first constitution was adopted in March 1962. It has been revised in 1970, 1972, 1992, and, most recently, in September 1996. The latest version established a bicameral legislature.

Branches of Government: The government has three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive branch comprises the king, a hereditary monarch who serves as head of state, and the prime minister, who is appointed by the king following elections to serve as head of government. The king appoints the cabinet ministers on the recommendation of the prime minister and presides over the Council of Ministers. He has the power to dismiss the ministers, dissolve parliament, call for new elections, and issue decrees. The king also serves as head of the armed forces, head of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, which appoints Supreme Court judges, and chief religious leader.

The king’s authority exceeds that of the legislative and judicial branches, although the 1996 constitution included measures to increase the legislative branch’s influence. Reflecting the impact of that document, the legislative branch now has a bicameral parliament, consisting of the Chamber of Representatives (lower house) and the Chamber of Counselors (upper house). The 325 members of the Chamber of Representatives are elected to six-year terms by direct, universal suffrage. The 270 members of the House of Counselors are elected indirectly by local councils, professional organizations, and labor syndicates, whose members are popularly elected. Counselors serve nine-year terms; one-third of the counselors stand for election every three years. Parliament’s still rather limited powers include responsibility for budgetary matters and the right to approve bills, question government ministers, and establish commissions of inquiry to investigate government actions. Parliament holds the government accountable through the ability of the Chamber of Representatives to force it to resign through a vote of no confidence and through the ability of the Chamber of Counselors to adopt a motion of censure.

According to the constitution, Morocco has an independent judiciary headed by the Supreme Court, but in practice the judiciary is subject to executive influence and corruption. Morocco’s common law court system has four levels: communal and district courts, courts of first instance, appeals courts, and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has five chambers: constitutional, penal, administrative, social, and civil. The constitutional chamber is authorized to review legislative measures. The Supreme Council of the Judiciary, headed by the king, appoints Supreme Court judges. Other courts include administrative courts, commercial courts, and a military tribunal.

Administrative Divisions: Morocco is divided administratively into 16 regions, three of which lie entirely or partially within the disputed Western Sahara. The 16 regions are subdivided into 41 provinces and 25 prefectures.

Provincial and Local Government: Walis, or governors, appointed by the king and regional councils are responsible for managing the country’s 16 regions. Each province has a local government consisting of a centrally appointed governor and an assembly elected by municipal councils. These provincial governments handle local responsibilities delegated to them by the central government such as rural investment and some social services. Each municipality has a mayor and an elected municipal council, which are responsible for basic services involving public health and safety. Local governments lack autonomy from the central government, which is responsible for taxation and budgeting at all levels of public administration. However, in recent years the central government has been trying to boost the authority of local governments.

Judicial and Legal System: Morocco’s legal system combines Islamic law, or sharia, with French and Spanish civil law. Morocco nominally maintains an independent judiciary, but in the view of independent observers, the autonomy of the judicial branch is impaired by corruption and executive influence. By law Moroccans are entitled to a fair public trial, but actual practice sometimes falls short in terms of representation, pre-trial detention, and the admissibility of evidence, particularly in terrorism-related cases. Since 2003 family courts apply Islamic law in cases involving Muslims.

Electoral System: Morocco has universal suffrage beginning at age 18. Parliamentary and municipal elections were last held in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Politics and Political Parties: A large number of political parties are active in Morocco. After the latest parliamentary elections held on September 27, 2002, the five most successful parties, in order of the number of seats won, were the following: the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires—USFP), Istiqlal (Independence) Party (Parti d' Indépendance—PI), Justice and Development Party (Parti de la Justice et du Développement—PJD), National Rally of Independents (Rassemblement National des Indépendants—RNI), and Popular Movement (Mouvement Populaire—MP).

Mass Media: The government owns many key media outlets, including Moroccan radio and television. Moroccans have access to approximately 2,000 domestic and foreign publications. The Moroccan press agency, Maghreb Arab Press, and one Arabic daily newspaper, Al-Anbaa, are official organs of the government. One additional Arabic daily newspaper, Assahra Al Maghribia, and one French-language daily newspaper, Le Matin, are semi-official organs of the government. Although journalists continue to practice self-censorship, opposition dailies have begun to explore social and political issues that would have been considered out of bounds until recently. However, the media continue to exercise caution when discussing government corruption, human rights, and Morocco’s policy toward Western Sahara. Radio Méditerranée Internationale (Medi-1), a joint French/Moroccan broadcaster, also practices self-censorship. According to the most recent available information, Morocco has 27 AM radio stations, 25 FM radio stations, 6 shortwave stations, and 35 television stations.

Foreign Relations: Morocco pursues a moderate foreign policy without notable controversy, except for its claim of sovereignty over Western Sahara. This claim is not recognized internationally, although Morocco continues to administer Western Sahara and has built a protective berm around three-quarters of its territory. Morocco’s stance on Western Sahara is an irritant in its relations with Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front, a Western Sahara independence group. Morocco enjoys friendly relations with the United States, the European Union (EU), and the Persian Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia.

The United States has maintained relations with Morocco since 1787; a friendship treaty was renegotiated in 1836. No bilateral relationship between the United States and another nation has lasted longer. In recognition of Morocco’s efforts to thwart international terrorism, the United States designated Morocco a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally in June 2004. Although Morocco has cracked down on domestic terrorism, it opposed United States-led military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. A comprehensive bilateral free-trade agreement between the United States and Morocco went into effect on January 1, 2006. The EU’s predecessor organization, the European Community, established relations with Morocco in 1960. Current relations between Europe and Morocco are based on the comprehensive EU-Morocco Association Agreement, which entered into force on March 1, 2000.

Moroccan foreign policy is primarily oriented toward the Maghreb region—consisting of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia—through Morocco’s membership in the Arab Maghreb Union. Morocco is linked to the Arab world through membership in the Arab League and also to Africa, although Morocco is no longer a member of the African Union. Morocco left the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the African Union’s predecessor organization, in 1984 following a dispute over the status of Western Sahara. In October 2000, Morocco severed all diplomatic ties with Israel out of protest over Israel’s settlement policy. Prior to the rupture, Morocco and Israel had maintained bilateral liaison offices since September 1994. Morocco is a long-standing advocate of a negotiated settlement to the Arab-Israeli dispute.

Membership in International Organizations: Morocco is a member of the following international organizations: African Development Bank (AfDB), Agency for the French-Speaking Community (ACCT), Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (ABEDA), Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Group of 77, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank (IBRD), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), International Criminal Court (ICCt, signatory), International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Labor Organization (ILO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (ICRM), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), League of Arab States (LAS), Nonaligned Movement (NAM), Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), United Nations (UN), Universal Postal Union (UPU), World Confederation of Labor (WCL), World Customs Organization (WCO), World Health Organization (WHO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), World Tourism Organization (WtoO), and World Trade Organization (WTO).

Major International Treaties: Morocco is a signatory to international agreements on the non-proliferation of biological weapons, chemical weapons, and nuclear weapons as well as various international agreements on civil aviation, customs cooperation, human rights, and intellectual property. Notable agreements on the environment include the following: biodiversity, climate change (including the Kyoto Protocol), desertification, endangered species, hazardous wastes, marine dumping, ozone layer protection, ship pollution, wetlands, and whaling.

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This series of profiles of foreign nations is part of the Country Studies Program, formerly the Army Area Handbook Program. The profiles offer brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security. In addition to being featured in the front matter of published Country Studies, they are now being prepared as stand-alone reference aides for all countries in the series, as well as for a number of additional countries of interest. The profiles offer reasonably current country information independent of the existence of a recently published Country Study and will be updated annually or more frequently as events warrant.