The Moroccan Unification and Reform Movement, which is perceived as the calling and guidance wing of the ruling Islamic Justice and Development party, recognized its disengagement from the consultations to form a government. And although it never announced its support of this or that inclination inside the government, the occupation of ministerial posts by leaders in it sheds light on its influence – to which no one had paid attention prior to the Egyptian incidents – and favors the theory related to the spread of the virus. What increased the sensitivity of the situation is the issuance of a sentence by the Egyptian judiciary to ban the Muslim Brotherhood organization. This brought back to mind voices in Morocco that called for the suspension of the activities of the Justice and Development Party following the suicide attacks which targeted Casablanca in 2003, had the Islamic party not adopted a smart strategy distancing it from all suspicions, and had it not chosen to be called a political party like all the remaining partners in the opposition and loyalist teams, while still enjoying its religious reference. Hence, except for the call of Istiqlal Party Secretary General Hamid Chabat for the banning of the Islamic party – one made against the backdrop of the political conflict – all the parties are stressing the necessity of protecting the current political experience against collapse. And although the confrontation between the opposition and Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane featured some sort of bone-crushing escalation, the feeling surrounding divergence in the values of political rivalry was sometimes dissipated by doubts surrounding the extent that could be reached by the conflict. This is true as long as the talk about hegemony, monopolization, and the attempts to hog power accompanied the rounds of the political conflict, which took to the street and stopped at the limits of demonstrations using the rise in the oil prices as their Trojan Horse, without ever exceeding the rules of the struggle between the government and the opposition. At a time when the government seems preoccupied with the arrangement of its internal home to secure a parliamentary majority that would help it ratify the draft laws, the position of the Unification and Reform movement aimed to give the impression there was a difference between the Moroccan experience and its counterparts in other countries. However, the participation of a delegation from the movement in the Islamic Movements Conference hosted by Pakistan, raised questions regarding the limits of its ties with the international organization. This happened although it is hard for movements sharing the same reference to elude their responsibility in the calling, which differentiates between what is purely political and what is purely religious and related to worship and morals. So far, the governmental crisis in Morocco is still distant from confrontations related to existence and has stopped at the limits of a political controversy revealing the possible and impossible alliances. And just like Benkirane's party showed openness towards the opposition factions, most of which had mixed opinions about joining the government, the opposition for its part abided by the rules of the political conflict without implicating the question of partisan existence, in order to avoid the cloning of the ongoing incidents in Egypt and Tunisia. At this level, one can register a difference in the facts and balance of powers, considering that the Moroccans ended the controversy surrounding the constitutional document ratified via popular referendum and moved on to the battle of powers, prerogatives and the mechanisms of the management of public affairs. Whether the Unification and Reform Movement wanted to distance itself from political affairs or to save the consultations over the formation of the second version of the government, there is an agreement over the protection of the accomplishments of the current experience, which allowed peaceful power transition based on the ballot boxes. The movement might have provided the prime minister with a safety raft in the face of the difficulties he is encountering, but the voters are the ones more likely to offer such a raft after seeing the fruits of reform. However, settling for waving it in light of a clear failure to combine the wishes and abilities is a non-encouraging sign, knowing that no team can avoid tending to the anger on the street to appease it through creative initiatives that would increase the level of hope and prevent the deepening of despair.
