Morocco good example of political transition and democratic experience, academic
Morocco-Regional, Politics, 4/1/2005

Morocco is a good example of political transition and democratic experience in the Arab states, for it discarded at the outset of independence monopartism to adopt multipartism, said Professor Kamal Al-Sayyid of the Cairo University.

Al-Sayyid told the Moroccan News Agency Morocco rejected the unique party system and incepted political multipartism and opened the way since early 1990s to opposition political parties to take part in alternance government.

On the occasion of a conference on political reforms in the Arab states, he moderated in Washington Wednesday at the Carnegie Foundation For International Peace, the academic went on to say the public hearings on past government violations in Morocco between 1956 and 1999 are unique in the Arab states, adding for all these reasons "we regard Morocco as a good example concerning political transition in the Arab nation."

On democracy prospects in the Middle East, Al-Sayyid said democracy in the region "is a matter of historical evolution" and needs a suitable environment to develop, notably in education and citizens income increase.

Democracy secures the accomplishment of peoples' expectations and contributes to the reduction of power abuses, he said adding however this does not mean full governance by the people.

Speaking of the integration of Islamist groups in Arab political life, Al-Sayyid said Arab governments should choose dialog with the movements, even though they do not agree with their stances.

Democracy should come from the free choice of domestic political forces in every country and must not be forced onto them or made through foreign pressure, he said.

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