Morocco

Official name: 
Kingdom of Morocco
Name in local language: 
المملكة المغربية transliterated as al-Mamlakatu al-Magrebiya
Form of government: 
Monarchy
Political system: 
Parliamentary
  • Founding date/ Date of independence: 1956 (independence from France and Spain)
  • Date of Constitution/last reform:  2011 (replacing that of 1996)
  • Form of state: Unitary, in the process of devolution and decentralization.
  • Administrative divisions:  12 regions or wilayas and 71 provinces and prefectures
  • Official language(s):  Arabic and Amazigh (since 2011 Constitution)
  • Other spoken languages: French and Spanish
  • Official religion: Sunni Islam
  • Minorities: Christians, Jews, Berbers (cultural minority but ethnic majority) and Saharawi people (originating from the Western Sahara) living in some parts of the territory of Morocco.
  • Dominant actor(s): King and his circle (makhzen)
  • Elected institutions of government:  Government, Bi-cameral parliament, regional, provincial and municipal councils (urban and rural).
  • Non-elected institutions of government:  King, regional and provincial governors
  • Party system: multi-party system, organised in three blocks: officialist parties, left-wing parties and islamist parties

Current authorities

  • Head of state: King Mohamed VI, since 1999
  • Head of government: Saad-Eddine El Othmani, since 2017
  • Minister of Foreign Affairs: Nasser Bourita, since 2017
  • Minister of Interior:  Abdelouafi Laftit, since 2017
  • Head(s) of Legislative Branch: Habib El Malki (USFP), (Lower House) and Hakim Benchamach (PAM)  (Upper House)
  • Composition of legislative branch: Link to graph
  • Head of the Judiciary: King (president of the High Council of the Judiciary)
  • Schematic representation of the political system: Link to diagram in PDF

Links