When he gets to Rabat, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will discover that the Moroccan Justice and Development party, his ally both in name and affiliation, is not at its best. Indeed, some features that were supposed to cause a major political change are no longer present. The Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane is fighting on several fronts, including his coalition partners and his foes at the opposition. Benkirane insisted on heading the people who welcomed the Turkish official and he cancelled his engagements, in order to attract foreign support, in light of the domestic problems. Things might not be all that bad. However, Benkirane's dealing with the present crisis that his government has to deal with indicates that he is confident and careless. He is acting as if nothing happened and he summarized the entire crisis by saying that the problem consists of differences. within the majority rather than a lack of governmental solidarity and harmony. In other words, he suggested that the solution can be mediated through the majority with the government left unaffected. However, this is far-fetched since the majority is the government's main support and any problem within the majority might endanger the government. Interestingly, the majority had barely recovered from the repercussions of the Al-Istiqlal's pullout when another crisis hit it. The new crisis had to do with the opposition blocs boycotting a parliamentary hearing aimed at holding PM Abdelilah Benkirane accountable. Despite the difference between these two repercussions of the crisis , the situation of the government led by Islamist is shady, especially that the cabinet is proceeding forward in the lack of a harmonious majority and in light of the opposition's boycotting. However, things have not reached an extent that calls for withdrawing the vote of trust or reverting to some premature enactments. Indeed, in case Al-Istiqlal was to join the opposition, then the latter will be able to overthrow the government in a constitutional manner, with the help of political influence that rocks the very bases of the governmental coalition. However, Al-Istiqlal is still undecided and hesitating between the National Council's decision to pull out and the actual implementation of that choice, pending a an arbitration by the king. Meanwhile, the Justice and Development is basing its actions on the principle that nothing is decided yet, as long as the executive authority is still holding up and as long as the ally, Al-Istiqlal, has not practically joined the opposition yet. A kind of surrealism and shuffling of the cards has started to prevail over the political situation in the country. By boycotting the monthly accountability hearing, the opposition factions wanted to send a message to the prime minister, indicating that none of the opposition parties will be acting as a supporting wheel for the cabinet's cart. Thus, Benkirane decided to lean on the majority, a first test for Al-Istiqlal. By doing that, he probably wanted to insinuate that this is a passing crisis or one that can be solved either by swallowing Al-Istiqlal's bitter decision to withdraw, or by looking for a new ally, or by reverting back to the choice of the voting ballots, which may bring the conflict back to square one. In theory, all possibilities are on the table. The most important thing on the political level is that the experience lived by Morocco, following the November 2011 elections and the street movements that broke back then, are now part from the past. This is true, although the present cabinet is no more than a year and half old. It could be due to the effect of the economic crisis that restrained the movement of the cabinet and caused it to be hesitant in carrying out structural and strategic reforms. This could also be due to the unusual aspect of the present phase, which increased the level of cautiousness, in addition to other factors. Most importantly, the Islamists that showed a great deal of flexibility and openness at the formation of the cabinet were unable to maintain their alliances, regardless of the nature of the differences. Al-Istiqlal and the opposition's factions criticize Benkirane for acting as a party leader, rather than the head of the executive Authority. The distance between the Islamic party and the cabinet also seems to be subjected to several points of view. Some of the party's MPs are siding by the opposition. Indeed, words are sometimes louder than actions, to the extent that the prime minister himself often criticizes some actions, as if he was part of the opposition. No Moroccan cabinet had even seen this many statements and counter statements. The ruling elites used to work silently and in secret. Today, the political arena is more like a Souk Okaz, where each party sings on its own. This by itself is a positive phenomenon, since it allows the public to get acquainted with the ongoing debate. However, the actual actions lose much of their importance in light of this deluge of statements. This might be a form of continuous exercise, or it might be that the partisan elites have not woken up yet from the shock of the elections, that brought the Islamic Justice and Development to power. Regardless of what the reality is, this kind of atmosphere does not help in reverting to the voting ballots. The reason to that is not related to the fear of having similar results, but rather to the fear of not seeing much change in the power balances.
