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 [Mohammed EL IDRISSI]; Al Ahd (The Covenant)
Party [Najib EL OUAZZANI]; Alliance des Libert'es (Alliance of
Liberty) or ADL [Ali BELHAJ]; An-Nahj Ad-Dimocrati or An-Nahj
[Abdellah EL HARIF]; Authenticity and Modernity Party or PAM
[Mohamed Cheikh BIADILLAH, Secretary General]; Choura et Istiqlal
(Consultation and Independence) Party or PCI [Abdelwahed MAACH];
Citizens' Forces or FC [Abderrahman LAHJOUJI]; Citizenship and
Development Initiative or ICD [Mohamed BENHAMOU]; Constitutional
Union Party or UC [Mohammed ABIED]; Democratic and Social Movement
or MDS [Mahmoud ARCHANE]; Democratic Forces Front or FFD [Touhami EL
KHIARI]; Democratic Socialist Vanguard Party or PADS [Ahmed
BENJELLOUN]; Democratic Society Party or PSD [Zhor CHEKKAFI];
Democratic Union or UD [Bouazza IKKEN]; Environment and Development
Party or PED [Ahmed EL ALAMI]; Istiqlal (Independence) Party or PI
[Abbas EL FASSI]; Justice and Development Party or PJD [Abdelilah
BENKIRANE]; Labor Party or PT [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 Popular Movement or MNP [Mahjoubi
AHERDANE]; National Rally of Independents or RNI [Mustapha EL
MANSOURI]; National Union of Popular Forces or UNFP [Abdellah
IBRAHIM]; Popular Movement or MP [Mohamed LAENSER]; Progress and
Socialism Party or PPS [Ismail ALAOUI]; Reform and Development Party
or PRD [Abderrahmane EL KOUHEN]; Renaissance and Virtue Party or PRV
[Mohamed KHALIDI]; Renewal and Equity Party or PRE [Chakir ACHABAR];
Social Center Party or PSC [Lahcen MADIH]; Socialist Democratic
Party or PSD [Aissa OUARDIGHI]; Socialist Union of Popular Forces or
USFP [Abdelwahed RADI]; Unified Socialist Left Party or PGSU
[Mohamed Ben Said AIT IDDER]
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: