Morocco and Democratization

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Byline: Ahmed Charai, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The legislative elections held last Friday in Morocco were a watershed in this country's unbending march toward democracy.

Morocco has for a decade engaged in an increasing process of democratization. Though the state has ceased to interfere in the electoral process, turnout remains very low in urban centers, resulting in a national turnout of barely 37 percent. Those analysts who had hitherto been the harbingers of an Islamist outburst are the same today who put the low voter turnout down to ignorance.

Still, the voter issue is more complex than meets the eye, and hence does not amount to mere sociological factors... rather it is essentially …