Three Moroccan parties, both pro-government as well as opposition parties, have set dates for holding their conferences prior to the end of the year. This implies that the re-structuring of the parties makes no distinction between political positions. Indeed, those who opted for the opposition aspire for enhancing their position, and those who support the government want to stay on board until the end of the current term. Most importantly, the image of the party whose leadership is never renewed has become an outdated tradition. Without internal democracy, democratic practices cannot possibly be firmly established within the state and the society. It is no longer acceptable for the party that plays the part of a mediator in preserving the balance to preach one thing and practice the opposite. Self criticism has turned into common denominators that cannot be overlooked in a constantly changing climate. Although the Arab Spring had no other effect in Morocco but to rock the partisan structure and to push it to shed its skin, this characteristic has imposed a desire to create something new that will keep pace with the transformations that have affected everybody. Change within the context of continuity has pushed the effective political forces to look for places for themselves. Chance had it that the developments brought an Islamist party, the Justice and Development party, to power on the backdrop of the existential battles that it fought. The benefit of this transformation restored the hope to partisan figures that realized that their ability to renew their elites, programs, and practices, might guarantee them a kind of continuity so as to prevent them from becoming the victims of a blind social and cultural act of vengeance. The feeling of the tightening circle is no longer confined to the people in power. It has rather extended, like a raging fire, to anyone who opposes it. This feeling has now started to affect partisan and syndical figures, as well as businessmen and some struggling sectors. The fact that the political parties have stepped into the circle of self criticism only means that the crisis has reached a peak as the dangers that are threatening everybody are now being felt. Everyone is eager to see what the Moroccan Islamists can achieve as they are now a hundred days away from forming a cabinet. The same also applies when it comes to the achievements of the opposition. While the shock of last November 28 is still casting its shadows on the components of the political scene, this goes beyond the calculations of days and weeks in the direction of exploring the strong and weak points through an experience that was surrounded with the highest level of both hopes and dishonesty. Raising the question concerning the horizon of the experience is not new. In 1998, while only a few weeks had elapsed since the Rotation Plan, questions were raised concerning the post-Rotation period; most specifically on the added value that it will bring in confronting the present problems and dilemmas. No one thought back then that a party of no more than fourteen MPs would invade the scene fourteen years later. A surprise does not happen when people are expecting it. It rather contradicts with the most solemn extrapolations. And the reason why the Arab spring has surprised many is that it was not expected in that same acuteness and momentum; in addition to the changes that it brought to the concepts, roles, and expectations. The Moroccan political parties that have resisted in the face of the poignant slogans and quakes can preserve their existence and their symbolism based on the jurisdictions allowed by the new constitution that consist of framing and expressing the intellectual and political directions. However, these parties no longer have traditional roles similarly to the phases of relaxation and prosperity. Their roles are now more in line with the need to bridge the deep gaps within the society where every angry group has turned into a party, and every activist has turned into a movement, and every desperate individual has turned into a potential suicidal person. The choices - that focused on marginalizing the parties and lessening the value of politics, and that have perhaps imagined a Morocco with weak or dependent parties that will be allowed to control the political scene and turn it into mere decoration – were erroneous. But democracy cannot evolve without partisan tributaries with a democratic radiance. The parties' weakness has never been an encouraging phenomenon. On the contrary, it always leads to a bigger weakness that touches on the structure of the modern state. Moroccan figures are proceeding on the road of self criticism. However, the need to strengthen the partisan structure is no longer seasonal, or subject to mood fluctuations. It has rather become a real bet that enhances the role of society in making its own choices and in selecting the safest way to guarantee a calm change in the realm of continuity that does not undermine stability.
