A referendum on constitutional reforms was held in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

on 1 July 2011, called by the king in response to a series of protests across Morocco that began on 20 February 2011 when over ten thousand Moroccans participated in demonstrations demanding democratic reforms. A commission was to draft proposals by June 2011. A draft released on 17 June foresaw the following changes: * requiring the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

to name a

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, renamed Head of government, from the largest party in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

; * handing a number of rights from the monarch to the PM, including

dissolution of parliament The dissolution of a legislative assembly (or parliament) is the simultaneous termination of service of all of its members, in anticipation that a successive legislative assembly will reconvene later with possibly different members. In a democracy ...

; * allowing parliament to grant

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

, previously a privilege of the monarch; * making

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

an official language alongside

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

The changes were reportedly approved by 98.49% of voters. Despite protest movements calling for a boycott of the referendum, government officials claimed turnout was 72.65%. Following the referendum, early parliamentary elections were held on 25 November 2011.

Details

The set of political reforms approved consisted of the following: * The Amazigh language is an official state language along with

.Article 5 of the 2011 Moroccan constitution * The state preserves and protects the Hassānīya language and all the linguistic components of the

Moroccan culture Moroccan may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to the country of Morocco ** Moroccans, or Moroccan people ** Moroccan Arabic, spoken in Morocco ** Moroccan Jews See also * Morocco leather Morocco leather (also known as Levant ...

as a heritage of the nation. * The king has the obligation to appoint a prime minister from the party that wins the most seats in the parliamentary elections. Previously, he could nominate a technocrat in this position if no party has a decisive advantage over the other parties in terms of the number of seats in the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. * The king is no longer "sacred" but the "integrity of his person" is "inviolable". Afitche referindom Marok-rac

* High administrative and diplomatic posts (including ambassadors, CEOs of state-owned companies, provincial and regional governors), are now appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the ministerial council which is presided by the king, previously the latter exclusively held this power. * The prime minister is the head of government; he has the power to dissolve the parliament. * The prime minister will preside over the council of Government, which prepares the general policy of the state. Previously the king held this position. * The parliament has the power of granting amnesty. Previously this was exclusively held by the king. * The judiciary system is independent from the legislative and executive branch, the king guarantees this independence. * Women are guaranteed "civic and social" equality with men. Previously, only "political" equality was guaranteed, though the 1996 constitution grants all citizens equality in terms of rights and before the law.1996 Moroccan constitution * The King would retain complete control of the armed forces, foreign policy, the judiciary, and matters pertaining to religion, and would also retain authority for choosing and dismissing prime ministers *All citizens have the freedom of thought, ideas, artistic expression and creation. Previously only free-speech and the freedom of circulation and association were guaranteed.

Results

References

External links

*Full text of the proposed new constitution
ArabicFrench
{{Mohammed VI , state=collapsed

Constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

2011–2012 Moroccan protests Constitutional referendums in Morocco Referendums in Morocco