King Abdullah is steering the process of reforms with a steady hand, but the handling of the election and party laws, a political minefield, is still underway.
Under pressure created by the uprisings in the Middle East, the Arab royal houses attempt to contend with the call for reforms while endeavoring to pay the lowest possible price and avoid any significant erosion of their power.
On the face of it, the changes in the Moroccan constitution that were approved in a referendum on July 1, 2011, are significant, even far reaching, with the government claiming that voter turnout was twice that of the 2007 elections. The masses, led by the "February 20 Movement," did in fact take to the streets in the earlier in the year, but King Muhammad VI remains popular, evidenced by his decision to advance the parliamentary elections from September 2012 to November 25, 2011. The king explained that he is eager to see a new government that would implement the new constitution.
