Doha: Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane will be one of the keynote speakers at the ninth Aljazeera Forum to be held from May 4 to 6 in Doha.
While Morocco experienced popular protests after the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions in early 2011, King Mohammed VI initiated reforms to contain protests, which led to an amended constitution, granting wider powers to parliament and the premier. Reforms also stipulated that the king should designate the leader of the majority party in the elected parliament to form the cabinet.
The Justice and Development Party, led by Benkirane, won the majority of seats in the House of Representatives in early elections after constitutional amendments were passed and King Mohammed asked him to form the government.
Benkirane formed the first coalition government in January 2012. When the Istiqlal (Independence) Party withdrew from the government in mid-2013, Benkirane formed his second coalition government in October 2013, which is in power today.
While the Justice and Development Party’s ascension to power was controversial in the eyes of those who did not believe that constitutional reforms were sufficient, it is the first Islamist party to be in power since Morocco’s independence.
Aljazeera Centre for Studies is organising the forum ‘Conflict and Change in the Arab World’ to be attended by politicians, policymakers, writers, intellectuals and media personalities from around the world. The Peninsula
