The Justice and Development Party (; ; , PJD) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

that advocates for Islamic democracy. It was the ruling party of Morocco from

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

History

PJD was founded by Abdelkrim al-Khatib, one of the founders of the Popular Movement party, from which he was expelled in the mid-1960s, under the name of ''MPDC'' (, the "Popular Democratic and Constitutional Movement"). The party was an empty shell for many years, until various members of a clandestine association Chabiba Islamia, who later formed the MUR (, the "Unity and Reform Movement") joined the party, with the authorisation and encouragement of former

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

Driss Basri. It later changed its name to current PJD in 1998. The party won eight seats in the parliamentary election in 1997. In the parliamentary election held on 27 September 2002, the party won 42 out of 325 seats, winning most of the districts where it fielded candidates. Its secretary-general since 2004 was Saadeddine Othmani, MP representing Mohammedia. In the parliamentary election held on 7 September 2007, the PJD won 43 out of 325 seats, behind the Istiqlal Party, which won 52. This was contrary to expectations that the PJD would win the most seats. However, the party had limited number of candidates in the election. Abdelilah Benkirane was elected leader of the PJD in July 2008, taking over from Saadeddine Othmani. Having won a plurality of seats (107 seats) in the November 2011 parliamentary election, the party formed a coalition with three parties that had been part of previous governments, and Benkirane was appointed Prime Minister of Morocco on 29 November 2011. His new government has targeted average economic growth of 5.5 percent a year during its four-year mandate, and to reduce the jobless rate to 8 percent by the end of 2016 from 9.1 percent at the start of 2012. Benkirane's government has also actively pursued Morocco's ties with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, its chief trade partner, as well as becoming increasingly engaged with the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council. In the 2021 general election, the PJD suffered a crushing defeat, losing 113 seats. On 11 March 2023, the PJD released a statement criticizing Nasser Bourita, Morocco's foreign minister, accusing him of defending Israel during meetings with African and European officials. In response, the royal cabinet released a statement rebuking the PJD. Party leader Abdelilah Benkirane asked members of the party to not comment on the statement released by the royal cabinet and said the comments were directed towards Bourita, rather than the nation's interests.

Ideology

PJD is a conservative Islamic-democratic party which supports the Moroccan monarchy. PJD disavows violence, terrorism and seeks to defend Morocco's Islamic identity through legislative means. According to a paper published by the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...

, the PJD has placed economic and legal issues at the core of its platform and is committed to internal democracy. The party's stated platform includes: * Education reform and reestablishment. * Economic partnerships with other countries. * Enhancement of

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. * Encouraging investment. * Greater "Arab and Muslim unity". It is historically affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, however, despite this, PJD was never an official branch.

Electoral results

Moroccan Parliament

Notes

References

External links

Justice and Development Party

Attajdid newspaper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Justice and Development Party (Morocco) 1998 establishments in Morocco Conservative parties in Africa Islamic democratic political parties Islamism in Morocco Moroccan nationalism Nationalist parties in Africa Political parties affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood Political parties established in 1998 Political parties in Morocco Social conservative parties Islamic political parties National conservative parties