Non-profit organization Human Rights Watch published a statement on Wednesday denouncing Moroccan police abuses on demonstrators who are calling for boycott in Friday parliamentary elections -which are broadly considered flawed and corrupt among the population- all over the country. According to them, the police is doing so in order to prevent an expectedly low voter turnout from becoming even lower, and in compliance with a legal prerrogative that allows detention of protestors "who use false information" to change the citizens' mind.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This kind of abuses and the lack of enforcement of what should be a constitutional, basic right -freedom of speech- makes it clear that Morocco is still far from being a democratic regime. These recent events, together with the history of authoritarianism in Moroccan politics and the fear that this week's elections will only take place to calm down the citizens and not to walk towards democratization leads me to think that a massive uprising and a transition similar to the ones that occured in Tunisia earlier this year is the only thing that can bring democracy to the Kingdom of Morocco.
No comments:
Post a Comment