A month ahead of the legislative elections on 7 October Salafis emerged as important actors in the Moroccan political landscape. If the rapprochement between the Salafi figure Abdelouahab Rafiqui (Abou Hafs) and the Istiqlal Party has increased gradually since the beginning of the year, it was the announcement of the PJD, in late August, that Salafi scholar Hammad Kabbaj would lead the Muslim Brotherhood party’s electoral list in Marrakech that took many by surprise. Although Kabbaj dedicates his time and effort to Islamic studies and preaching he has increasingly started to delve into politics since 2011, but without direct political participation. Morocco’s historic political party Istiqlal (founded in 1925) has been reaching out to Salafis since last January. In March the party organised a conference on Moroccan Salafism and its nationalist movement roots, where Rafiqui Abou Hafs and Mohammed Fizazi presented on the topic, making links to the party’s historic founder Allal Al Fassi. Other smaller parties such as the Neo-Democrats Party of Mohammed Drif and Mahmoud Harchane’s Socialist and Democratic Movement have been in talks with former Salafi prisoners to enlist them in their new parties (see Cordoba Update No. 2/2016 and Cordoba Update 16.11.2015). Rafiqui Abou Hafs told the press that lack of party resources and perspective to reach a solution for current and fo/rmer Salafi prisoners had compelled him and thirty of his Salafi colleagues to leave the Renaissance and Virtue Party (which they joined in June 2013) and support the Istiqlal Party. Rafiqui, who will lead the Istiqlal electoral list in Fes, explained that his main work within the party would be to promote a Moroccan version of Salafism that is grounded in the kingdom’s history and tradition. He said that the Istiqlal party is a natural ideological partner and he thought that the party is the best equipped to find a solution to the pending dossier of the 2003 Salafi prisoners and the social re-integration of those who had completed their time in prison or were pardoned by the King.

Links for more information:
http://leconomiste.com/article/1002096-kabbaj-le-candidat-pjd-qui-fait-peur
http://www.medias24.com/MAROC/NATION/POLITIQUE/166213-Mercato-politique
http://telquel.ma/2016/06/03/abou-hafs-prochain-joker-du-parti-listiqlal
http://www.leconomiste.com/article/998340-l-istiqlal-ressuscite-le-salafisme-de-allal-el-fassi
http://www.lopinion.ma/def.asp?codelangue=23&id_info=51636
http://fr.le360.ma/politique/darif-les-nouveaux-democrates-soutenus-par-chiites-et-salafistes
http://cordoue.ch/the-cordoba-update/item/418Cordoba Update No. 2/2016
http://cordoue.ch/the-cordoba-update/item/410Cordoba Update 16.11.2015

Posted by lakhdarghettas

Dr. Lakhdar Ghettas Author of Algeria and the Cold War: International Relations and the Struggle for Autonomy (London & NY: IB Tauris, 2018)