ABSTRACT
In the 2007 legislative elections, Moroccan political parties failed to attract more than a fifth of Moroccan voters. This disturbing decline in voter confidence came to confirm the structural weaknesses of most institutionalized political parties and underline their current intellectual, political, and organizational stagnation. Most parties have failed to strengthen their voter bases, increase their mass memberships, and improve their organizational structures (Malki 2006). Their internal lack of transparency and democracy has also done enormous damage to their efficacy and reputation. With the notable exception of the Islamists, they are widely seen as competing clientilistic hierarchies that are riven with factionalism, personality clashes, and petty party squabbles (Willis 2002: 14-16).
