Amid a wave of protests in the Arab World, Morocco's King Mohamed declared a planned constitutional reform late Wednesday and appointed a committee to work with political parties, trade unions and civil society groups to draw up proposals by June. During a televised address, the monarch stated the reform would include plans for an independent judiciary, a stronger role for parliament and political parties and a regionalization program to devolve more powers to local officials.
The draft constitution will be submitted to a referendum, the king added. "The committee is encouraged to show resourcefulness and creativity in order to come up with an advanced constitutional system for Morocco, now and into the future," he said, according Reuters.
According to Mohamed, the reform will make the judiciary independent, have a freely elected parliament with new powers, a government elected by parliament, a prime minister from the majority party and greater powers for political parties.
