Constitution of Morocco

The first Constitution of Morocco was adopted in 1962, 6 years after the country regained independence. Since this event, the king, Mohamed V worked for the establishment of political and constitutional institutions. This was originally the creation of the National Advisory Council and, on November 15, 1959, the enactment of the Dahir, legislation text governing public freedoms and freedom of expression. Then, in 1960, the Constitutional Council was created and the Draft of the first Constitution was proposed on November 18, 1962, and ratified by referendum on December 7, 1962 and promulgated one week later, on December 14.

A referendum on constitutional reforms was held in Morocco on 1 July 2011. It was called in response to the protests that took place earlier in the year demanding democratic reforms. A commission was to draft proposals by June 2011.^[1] A draft released on 17 June foresaw the following changes:^[2][3][4]

• requiring the King to name a Prime Minister from the largest party in Parliament;
• handing a number of rights from the monarch to the PM, including dissolution of parliament;
• allowing parliament to grant amnesty, previously a privilege of the monarch;
• making Berber an official language alongside Arabic

The changes were reportedly approved by 98.49% of voters.^[5] Despite protest movements calling for a boycott of the referendum, government officials claimed turnout was 72.65%.^[5][6]

Following the referendum, early parliamentary elections were then held on 25 November 2011.

Results of 2011 referendum

Moroccan constitutional referendum, 2011[7]
Choice	Votes	%
Yes	9,653,492	98.50
No	146,718	1.50
Valid votes	9,800,210	99.17
Invalid or blank votes	81,712	0.83
Total votes	9,881,922	100.00
Registered voters and turnout	13,451,404	73.46

See also

• Moroccan constitutional referendum, 1962
• Moroccan constitutional referendum, 1992
• Moroccan constitutional referendum, 2011

References

1. Morocco to vote on new constitution AFP, 9 March 2011
2. König will Teil seiner Macht abgeben Der Standard, 18 June 2011 (German)
3. Moroccan Islamists 'could reject constitution' AFP, 13 June 2011
4. Morocco king to lose some powers, remain key figure Vancouver Sun, 17 June 2011
5. Morocco approves King Mohammed's constitutional reforms BBC, 2 July 2011
6. "Moroccans approve new constitution by sweeping majority". Retrieved 21 February 2016.
7. http://www.moroccoboard.com/news/5339-morocco-refrerendum-results

External links

• Full text of the 1996 constitution in Arabic, English, and French
• Full text of the 1996–2011 constitution (French)
• "La Constitution - Promulgation" (PDF). Bulletin Officiel (in French) (5964 bis): 1901–1928. 2011-07-30. ISSN 0851-1217. OCLC 693771745. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-02.