The nation’s representatives elect Talbi Al-Alami as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The nation’s representatives elected Rachid Talbi Alami, from the National Rally of Independents party, as President of the Moroccan House of Representatives for the remainder of the parliamentary term (2021-2026), during the session held shortly before Friday.

Talbi Al-Alami received 264 votes out of 324 voters, while his competitor Abdallah Bouanou for the parliamentary group of the Justice and Development Party received 23 votes. With 37 votes cancelled, 10 of them due to voting in French.

Rashid Talbi Al-Alami, representing the parliamentary team of the National Rally of Independents, had assumed the presidency of the House of Representatives since the beginning of the parliamentary period (2021-2026), succeeding himself for the remainder of the current parliamentary term in accordance with the provisions of Chapters 62 and 65 of the Constitution and the requirements of Article 24 of the internal regulations of the House of Representatives.

Speech by Mr. Rashid Talbi Al-Alami

Following his re-election as Speaker of the House of Representatives

House of Representatives – April 12, 2024

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and may blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of God and upon his honorable and good family,

Dear colleagues and male colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased, first of all, to thank you for renewing your confidence in my humble person by re-electing me as Speaker of the House of Representatives for the second half of the eleventh legislative term. I hope that I will live up to this responsibility and this trust and that we will continue together and together to serve our country and its aspirations under the wise leadership of His Majesty the King. Mohammed VI, may God grant him victory, who leads Morocco with wisdom and insight to broader horizons of economic and social progress and prosperity, establishing a Moroccan cultural renaissance open to the world, based on a democratic and social constitutional monarchy, rooted in history.

I would like to reaffirm the same conviction that I have always embodied, which is that I am the Speaker of the House of Representatives with all its components, opposition and majority. I will continue to act on this basis in accordance with what is required by the Constitution and stipulated in the Council’s internal regulations. Accordingly, I would like to thank everyone, whether those who voted for my nomination, or those who had another opinion, which I fully respect.

This is, once once more, a matter of a normal democratic exercise in a state of institutions and party pluralism, in which the opposition and the majority play roles that, no matter how different or contradictory, are decisive in democracy. In Morocco, we can be proud of the content of our advanced and liberal constitution, which gave the parliamentary opposition a fundamental place in the institutional system in order to ensure balance and guarantee the rights of all.

Colleagues and colleagues,

We have before us, in the second half of the eleventh legislative term, several challenges that our efforts must combine to contribute to solving them from our position, and from the standpoint of our constitutional and institutional competencies. We have several duties that must be performed with the necessary professionalism in a way that makes the institution a contributor to the dynamics of reform and development.

For this reason, we will be keen, together and together, to build on what has been achieved in the areas of legislation, monitoring government work, with its various aspects, and evaluating public policies, as well as in other functions, such as our work in the interface of parliamentary diplomacy, knowing that we have accumulated achievements, experiences, work methods, and deep-rooted Moroccan institutional traditions. We must develop and consolidate it.

In this regard, we should imitate and remember what was stated in the sublime message addressed by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God grant him victory, to the participants in the national symposium organized on January 17, 2024 on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the creation of the first elected Moroccan parliament, where His Majesty says: “Parliamentary work and the democracy of representative institutions have achieved great maturity at the level of competencies and their practice, as well as through openness to civil society, in organizing and managing parliamentary work, as well as concluding partnerships with other national parliaments.”

This lofty royal pronouncement should motivate us to make more efforts to further develop our work.

As His Majesty the King added, “ Despite what has been achieved in this area, efforts must be redoubled to raise institutional representative democracy to the level we want for it, which Morocco is honored by.“.

Therefore, we must be careful to promote dialogue among ourselves, to achieve profitability and efficiency, to respond to the expectations of society, and to dedicate the institution as a space for managing disputes and disagreements, and for proposal and persuasion.

Colleagues and colleagues,

I will not be proactive in anticipating the legislative agenda during the remainder of the legislative term, but what is certain is that it will be rich, and requires collective mobilization in order to win the bet on the reforms sponsored by His Majesty, including reviewing the Family Code, whose status and privacy we all appreciate, and the care it receives from His Majesty. His Majesty the Commander of the Faithful.

Whether regarding this text or other texts and issues of a societal nature and dimension, matters in Morocco are facilitated within the framework of societal, political and institutional consensus, and within the framework of strict respect for the constitution.

The contemporary history of Morocco confirms that major reforms have always been achieved within the framework of this consensus and on the basis of dialogue, persuasion, and invoking the country’s best interests.

In facing external challenges, and in order to win the stakes of development and reforms, I do not think we differ. The matter is not regarding polarization between the majority and the opposition, as long as everyone contributes to achieving it, and as long as that requires the citizen and patriotic spirit, which we in Morocco are proud of as being part of the DNA of politics in the country. The return from this cannot be reduced to what is material and developmental only, but it goes beyond it to strengthening institutions and strengthening democracy, and this is what gives development its spirit and its legal and political dimensions.

In exercising the Council’s supervisory jurisdiction, and in the field of evaluating public policies, the focus must be on the cost-effectiveness and tracking what is achieved in agreement between the legislative and executive authorities, and what is pledged in the field of public policies, because the first and last goal is for male and female citizens to feel the impact of these policies and the impact of public spending. .

On the other hand, you, female and male colleagues, appreciate the international context characterized by rapid fluctuations on the geopolitical and economic levels, and the repercussions of this on all countries, and on building international axes and alliances.

This context requires us, more than ever, to mobilize and rally behind His Majesty, may God grant him victory, to continue defending our rights and legitimate issues, most importantly the issue of our territorial integrity.

We must remain mobilized within the framework of multilateral parliamentary organizations, and within the framework of our relations with the rest of the world’s parliaments, in order to defend the interests of our country on the basis of vigilance and proactiveness, armed with the legitimacy of our issues, foremost of which is the issue of our territorial integrity, and embodying the doctrine of national diplomacy as led and sponsored by His Majesty the King, may God grant him victory.

Colleagues and colleagues,

In this regard, I once once more recall the necessity stated in the royal message on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of the first elected parliament “Elevating parliamentary work” and “giving priority to the higher interests of the nation and citizens over other partisan accounts, and creating a parliamentary life by adopting a code of ethics in the legislative institution in its two chambers that has a binding legal nature.”“This will be at the top of the Council’s agenda during the legislative session that we are opening today, by ensuring the adoption of a code with clear and binding requirements.

We must, then, implement these royal directives, and make the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of the first elected Moroccan parliament a focal point for injecting new dynamism into our institutional practice, and improving the image of the institution in public opinion in a way that enhances confidence in institutions and makes everyone involved in construction.

Happy Eid Mubarak. May God bring His Majesty the Commander of the Faithful back with good health and wellness, and grant His Majesty a long life so that he may continue to lead this country to greater power and glory.

Thank you all