bicameral Parliament consists of a Chamber of Counselors (or upper house) (270 seats; members elected indirectly by local councils, professional organizations, and labor syndicates for nine-year terms; one-third of the members are elected every three years) and Chamber of Representatives (or lower house) (325 seats; 295 members elected by multi-seat constituencies and 30 from national lists of women; members elected by popular vote for five-year terms) elections: Chamber of Counselors - last held 8 September 2006 (next to be held in 2009); Chamber of Representatives - last held 7 September 2007 (next to be held in 2012) election results: Chamber of Counselors - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PI 17, MP 14, RNI 13, USFP 11, UC 6, PND 4, PPS 4, Al Ahd 4, other 17; Chamber of Representatives - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PI 52, PJD 46, MP 41, RNI 39, USFP 38, UC 27, PPS 17, FFD 9, MDS 9, Al Ahd 8, other 39
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (judges are appointed on the recommendation of the
Supreme Council of the Judiciary, presided over by the monarch)
Political parties and leaders:
Action Party or PA [Muhammad EL IDRISSI]; Alliance of Liberties or
ADL [Ali BELHAJ]; Annahj Addimocrati or Annahj [Abdellah EL HARIF];
Avant Garde Social Democratic Party or PADS [Ahmed BENJELLOUN];
Citizen Forces or FC [Abderrahman LAHJOUJI]; Citizen's Initiatives
for Development [Mohamed BENHAMOU]; Constitutional Union or UC
[Mohamed ABIED]; Democratic and Independence Party or PDI
[Abdelwahed MAACH]; Democratic and Social Movement or MDS [Mahmoud
ARCHANE]; Democratic Forces Front or FFD; Democratic Socialist Party
or PSD [Aissa OUARDIGHI]; Democratic Society Party or PSD [Zhor
CHEKKAFI]; Democratic Union or UD [Bouazza IKKEN]; Environment and
Development Party or PED [Ahmed EL ALAMI]; Front of Democratic
Forces or FFD [Thami EL KHYARI]; Independence Party (Istiqlal) or PI
[Abbas EL FASSI]; Justice and Development Party or PJD [Abdelilah
BENKIRANE]; Labor Party [Abdelkrim BENATIK]; Moroccan Liberal Party
or PML [Mohamed ZIANE]; National Democratic Party or PND [Abdallah
KADIRI]; National Ittihadi Congress Party or CNI [Abdelmajid
BOUZOUBAA]; National Rally of Independents or RNI [Mustapha EL
MANSOURI]; National Union of Popular Forces or UNFP [Abdellah
IBRAHIM]; Parti Al Ahd or Al Ahd [Najib EL OUAZZANI]; Party of
Progress and Socialism or PPS [Ismail ALAOUI]; Party of Renewal and
Equity or PRE [Chakir ACHABAR]; Party of the Unified Socialist Left
or GSU [Mohamed Ben Said AIT IDDER]; Popular Movement or MP [Mohamed
LAENSER]; Reform and Development Party or PRD [Abderrahmane EL
KOUHEN]; Social Center Party or PSC [Lahcen MADIH]; Socialist Union
of Popular Forces or USFP
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Democratic Confederation of Labor or CDT [Noubir AMAOUI]; General
Union of Moroccan Workers or UGTM [Abderrazzak AFILAL]; Moroccan
Employers Association or CGEM [Hassan CHAMI]; National Labor Union
of Morocco or UNMT [Abdelslam MAATI]; Union of Moroccan Workers or
UMT [Mahjoub BENSEDDIK]
International organization participation:
ABEDA, AfDB, AFESD, AMF, AMU, EBRD, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,
ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO,
IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAS,
MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OIC, OIF, OPCW, OSCE (partner),
PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US: