ABSTRACT
The biggest loser of the 2007 parliamentary elections was the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP). It suffered the worst crushing defeat of its history, losing twelve seats, including those held by such heavyweights as Mohamed Achaâri (minister of communication), Nezha Chekrouni (minister of Moroccans living abroad), and Driss Lachgar (head of the party’s parliamentary group). Even the son of Mohamed El Yazghi, the former secretary general of the party, who was parachuted in Tangier, was overwhelmingly defeated. Several other parachuted candidates met the same fate. Massive defections and the dilution of the party’s political identity have taken a devastating toll on the USFP, which slid from being the dominant party in government to being a party in crisis. To fill up its ranks, the party had to recruit political notables to compete nationally. Twenty out of its thirty-eight newly elected parliamentarians joined the party late and are suspected of having no left-leaning bent. Most had hopped back and forth between parties the USFP used to derisively call “administrative” formations (Boudarham 2007a).
