Makhzen and PJD after Tamarrod

Much has been written about the impact of the ouster of Egypt's Islamist government on Tunisia.  Mohammed Masbah takes a look at the situation in Morocco:

The ramifications of events in Egypt on Morocco can be seen through the reactions of palace and pro-palace players. King Mohammed VI was quick to congratulate Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour immediately after his appointment. Likewise, two hours after the royal statement, the pro-monarchy Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) issued a statement defending the army’s intervention as protecting Egyptian institutions and democracy, though the palace had not commented on the recent bloody crackdown. The palace’s position was in step with that of the Gulf monarchies—except Qatar—which were glad to get rid of the brotherhood.

The Istiqlal party (Independence Party), a former partner in the PJD led coalition government, and a historically pro-palace party, hasted their withdrawal from the coalition prompted by the events in Egypt. As Morsi was deposed, Istiqlal’s secretary general Hamid Chabat called for the Moroccan prime minister to step down “like his Brotherhood brother Mohammed Morsi” and the dissolution of the PJD. The party’s newspaper, Al-Alam, compared Morsi and Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, saying that both had failed to make good on their election promises of fighting corruption and despotism, and had proven overly domineering.

It seems worth mentioning that Morocco has drawn closer to Saudi Arabia and other GCC states over the past two years, and that insofar as they fear Muslim Brotherhood-style political Islam, they probably fear it in Morocco as much as anywhere else in the Arab world.