USFP protesters want extraordinary congress

A group of militants of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) called Sunday for an extraordinary congress of the party, making it clear that they will not split from the party.

The group had withdrawn from the USFP's latest congress, held last March as a protest against the "climate" in which the congress was convened.

The protesters, who met in Casablanca, said the party has to update its ideological orientation and set up mechanisms "to moralize the party's life."

According to 2M TV channel, participants in this unofficial meeting presented a platform in which they stress the need to work within the party and correct structural malfunctions within the USFP, led since the early 1990's by Abderrahmane Youssoufi, Morocco's current Prime Minister.

One of the key participants, Mohamed Sassi, said the platform is a political response to a situation that requires a debate between the USFP militants on the party's future.

The situation reflects what he called "a crisis in the Moroccan political landscape" and requires an end to stagnating traditions and conservatism, he explained.