New Constitution (Morocco-Report‪)‬

What Does The New Constitution Actually Change? On Friday Moroccans went to the polls to express their opinion on an apparently simple choice: 'yes' or 'no' to the new constitution proposed by their king, Mohammed VI, in a speech on 17 June. The result seemed to be a foregone conclusion. Moroccans would vote in favor of adopting the new constitution, just as their revered king had said he would vote 'yes' - and just as imams in mosques last Friday had urged people to vote 'yes' as a matter of religious duty. Preliminary results, according to Moroccan Interior Minister Tayyeb al-Sharqawi, indicate that some 98 percent of those who went to the polls voted 'yes'. In his speech the 47-year-old king said that the new constitution would establish the bases for a "constitutional, democratic, parliamentary monarchy" according to a report in the pan-Arab daily ASHARQ AL AWSAT on June 19. Ostensibly its provisions are designed to increase the powers of the parliament - already an elected body - and the prime minister, and thus decrease the prerogatives of the king; at least such is the official presentation.