Morocco's Islamist-leaning PJD party elects a new leader | New face | The Economist

Morocco's Islamist-leaning PJD party elects a new leader | New face | The Economist: "Morocco's Islamist-leaning PJD party elects a new leader

Morocco's Islamist-leaning Parti de la justice et du développement (PJD), the second-largest party in parliament, has elected a new leader following a party congress attended by many of the country's leading politicians. Such an orderly and transparent process of democratic change is a rare occurrence in Arab politics, which tends to be dominated by long-serving autocrats, and reflects the ambition of the PJD to put itself forward as a model for respectable Islamism, along the lines of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). In an ironic twist, whereas the new PJD leader, Abdelillah Benkirane, received a congratulatory phone call from King Mohammed VI, Turkey's AKP is under threat of disbandment in a court case that is set to commence on July 28th.

The election of Mr Benkirane came at the end of the party's sixth annual congress, held on July 19th-20th. Along with some 1,600 delegates from the PJD, several prominent political figures were also in attendance, including members of the cabinet and parliament, a former prime minister, Driss Jettou, and heads of other political parties, both from Morocco and other countries. The most notable absentee was Fouad Ali El Himma, the head of the newly formed Mouvement pour tous les de"