 The American analyst and connoisseur of the Maghreb, Calvin Dark, said that the massive participation of the people of the southern provinces in Wednesday's elections attest that they have "a voice to be heard in the democratic process and use it to help shape the future of Morocco.
He regrets that the sequestered people of Tindouf on Algerian territory have neither the power to express themselves nor to decide their fate.
"The highest national turnout recorded in the southern provinces demonstrates two things: the first is that those living in the Sahara have a voice in the democratic process and the second is that these citizens are determined to use their voice to help shape the future of Morocco," Dark said in a statement to MAP in Washington.
"It is an injustice that Sahrawis held in Polisario camps in Algeria do not have that voice or the power to use it to shape their own future," he lamented.
With a turnout of 66.94% in Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra, 63.76% in Guelmim-Oued Noun and 58.30% in Dakhla-Oued Eddahab, these three regions of the southern provinces of the Kingdom largely exceed the rate of 50.18% recorded nationally during this triple vote, according to figures released by the Ministry of Interior.
Commenting on the results of these elections, the American analyst felt that "so much has changed in Morocco, in the region and in the world since 2011" when the PJD took over the government.
"The dynamics, politics and circumstances that helped make the PJD attractive to voters ten years ago are not the same in 2021," he said.
He added that "in Morocco, the United States or any other democracy in the world, parties must offer policies and a vision that appeal to voters - and if they don't, voters will vote for political parties that do."
"The test now will be for liberal parties to deliver on their vision and not lose touch with voters and their aspirations," said the president and co-founder of Washington-based RC Communications.
-News on Western Sahara issue/Corcas-
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