The New Normal - Politics in Moroccos (and the U.S.)

DAD - This post is for you!  

My Dad loves his politics

The "Tractor Party" campaigning in our neighborhood

These leaflets litter the streets everywhere

Government and Elections:  Morocco vs the United States

Morocco - Campaigning started September 25 (yes, this year).
U.S. - Campaigning started sometime before the Ice Age.

Morocco - Elections were today, October 7.
U.S. - Elections will be on November 8.

Morocco - 30 parties are represented.
U.S. - 2 main parties, with a few others in the background.

These are the parties

Morocco - The multi-party system in the kingdom makes it impossible for any political party to win an absolute majority, forcing any winning party to work with other parties to form a coalition government.
U.S. - The modern political party system in the U.S. is a two-party system dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. These two parties have won every United States presidential election since 1852 and have controlled the United States Congress to some extent since at least 1856.

Morocco - 10 parliamentary elections have been held since Morocco's independence in 1956; the prime minister is elected, but the King is not elected.
U.S. - 56 total presidential elections have been held in the U.S. since it's independence in 1776.

Abdelilah Benkirane, prime minister

Morocco - Almost 16,000,000 Moroccans of the country's 34,000,000 eligible voters are registered to vote.
U.S. - 146, 311, 000 Americans of the country's 218,959,000 voters are registered to vote (2012 statistic).

There are seats guaranteed for women and young people

Morocco - The Moroccan Constitution provides for a monarchy with a Parliament and an independent judiciary. Parliament is made up of two directly elected chambers, the 395-member House of Representatives (the lower house) and the 270-member House of Advisers (the upper house). 
U.S. - There are three branches in U.S. government:  Executive, (the President and about 5,000,000 workers), Legislative (Senate and House of Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts). 

Moroccan Parliament

Morocco - Abdelilah Benkirane, Morroco's current Prime Minster, was elected in 2011.  And, let's not forget the King, Mohammed VI, who ascended to the throne in July of 1999 after his father died; who knows how long he'll be in power.
U.S. - Barack Obama II, elected in November of 2008 and re-elected 4 years later, is just finishing his second and final term.

King Mohammed VI

Morocco - The main battle in this election will be hotly contested between the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) and opposition Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM).
U.S. - The main battle in this election will be between Donald Trump, a rich, narcissistic, disagreeable, crazy man with delusions of grandeur, and Hillary Clinton, a professional politician and shameless liar.  I do give Hillary props for knowing something about foreign policy and her experience as sec of state.  But, I'm still thinking about staying in Morocco for the next 4 years!

Morocco - Many expect the next government to alleviate the situation of healthcare, education and find new mechanism to generate employment, which remain major social challenges that previous governments failed to handle.
U.S. - God only knows.