Omar Balafrej (; born 26 October 1973) is a Moroccan politician, member of the Moroccan parliament since 2016, representing his hometown Rabat, and one of two members of Unified Socialist Party sitting currently in the parliament. Since 2014, he is also a board member of the African Innovation Foundation, providing strategic advice and technical support to strengthen the innovation landscape in Africa. Before being elected to the parliament, Balafrej was the CEO of MITC, a Moroccan public private partnership that manages

Casablanca Technopark Casablanca Technopark is an information technology business cluster complex located at Casablanca, Morocco. It was inaugurated in October 2001. Background It is Morocco's first industrial park. The building was designed by Mourad Ben Embarek. Th ...

, and the president of the Abderrahim Bouabid Foundation (''ABF'') from 2009 to 2012.

Early life

Omar Balafrej was born in Rabat, the capital of

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 ...

, in 1973. His father was a doctor, and his granduncle was

Ahmed Balafrej Ahmed Balafrej (; September 5, 1908 – April 14, 1990) was the second Prime Minister of Morocco between May 12, 1958, and December 2, 1958. He was a significant figure in the struggle for the independence of Morocco. Biography Ahmed Balafre ...

. He has also familial relations with

Mohamed El Yazghi Mohamed El Yazghi (; born 28 September 1935) is a Moroccan politician and former head of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces party. He was born in Fes, Morocco, and held different positions of minister in governments between 1998 and 2009. S ...

and

Abderrahim Bouabid Abderrahim Bouabid (; 23 March 1922 – 8 January 1992) was a Moroccan politician, and head of the left-wing Socialist Union of Popular Forces (SUPF) between 1975 and 1992. Early life Bouabid was born in the Medina of Salé, on 23 March 1922 ...

, which made him interested in politics since his childhood. After finalizing his high school studies at Lycée Descartes, he went to France, where he integrated the

École centrale de Lyon The Centrale Lyon (), formerly (, abbr. ECL), is a research university in Grand Lyon, greater Lyon, France. Founded in 1857 by François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour in response to the increasing industrialization of France, it is one of the oldes ...

, after two years of preparatory classes in Paris.

Political career

After returning from his engineering studies in France, Balafrej joined the

Socialist Union of Popular Forces The Socialist Union of Popular Forces (; ; , USFP) is a social democratic political party in Morocco. It claims ideas of social justice, modernity and the fight against inequalities. History and profile The USFP was formed as a breakaway from ...

in 1997, and was active in its sections for young people. However, he was disappointed by this party and left it in 2010, mentioning that "this party did not want to transform the Moroccan society anymore". In 2009, Balafrej co-founded the movement "Clarity, Ambition, Courage" (CAC), aiming to unify the Moroccan left. Balafrej and his movement was active in different events, mainly during the

2011–2012 Moroccan protests The Moroccan protests were a series of demonstrations across Morocco which occurred from 20 February 2011 to the fall of 2012. They were part of the larger Arab Spring protests. The protests were organized by the 20 February Movement. Origin Th ...

as well as during demonstrations against

Al-Boraq Al Boraq () is a high-speed rail service between Casablanca and Tangier in Morocco. The first of its kind on the African continent, it opened on 15 November 2018 after a decade of planning and construction by ONCF, Morocco's national railway c ...

, the high-speed rail service commissioned by the state without a prior discussion with people or their representatives. The CAC movement was part of a loose coalition of about 50 groups known as "Stop TGV!". Their efforts included petitions, demonstrations and public debates. In 2015, Balafrej and the CAC joined the

Federation of Democratic Left A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the co ...

, which was a coalition created the same year to gather the leftist political parties: Unified Socialist Party,

Socialist Democratic Vanguard Party The Socialist Democratic Vanguard Party (, PADS; ) is a political party in Morocco. History and profile The party was founded in principle in 1991, after having previously emerged as a faction within the USFP named Socialist Union of Popular For ...

and

National Ittihadi Congress The National Ittihadi Congress (; ) is a political party in Morocco. History and profile The party was founded in October 2001. The founders were Abdelmajid Bouzoubaa and Noubir Amaoui. In the legislative elections An election is a fo ...

. Under this affiliation, Balafrej was elected to the parliament as one of the 4 representatives of the city of Rabat.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balafrej, Omar 1973 births Living people People from Rabat