Istiqlal Party

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Istiqlal Party

(Party of Independence), a political party in Morocco, organized in 1943. It reflects the interests of the Moroccan bourgeoisie, the bourgeois intelligentsia, and the big landowners.

The party took an active part in the struggle for the independence of Morocco. From 1956 to 1959 and from 1960 to January 1963 it was the ruling majority party. After 1963 it was in opposition to the government. In 1959 a left-wing group (National Union of Popular Forces) split from the Istiqlal. In July 1970 the Istiqlal party and the National Union of Popular Forces created the National Front, advancing a program of democratic transformations.

Chairman of the party is Muhammad Allal al-Fasi. Its publications are the newspapers Al-Alam, in Arabic, published since 1946, and L’Opinion, in French, since 1965.

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References in periodicals archive ?

The Istiqlal Party was ordered to be dissolved by a Cairo court in 2014.

Court postpones verdict on Istiqlal Party head

The opposition's ranks are now complete with the accession of the Istiqlal Party and the government has secured its majority with the accession of the Rally of Independents.

Morocco: A New Governmental Scene

- MS of Secretary-General of the Istiqlal Party Hamid Chabat during the demonstration.

Moroccans protest against cost of living, govt

The Istiqlal party, a member of the government coalition, decided to withdraw from the government and some of its ministers presented their resignation that was accepted by HM King Mohammed VI on July 22.

RNI Party's National Council Approves Participation In Government

The Istiqlal Party pulled out of the government on July 9, according to a report of the Associated Press.

Morocco's King Accepts Ministers' Resignation

This result allowed the PJD to form a new government in coalition with other parties, including the nationalist Istiqlal Party, which was second with 60 seats.

Morocco's stability in the wake of the Arab Spring

There were a total of 30 parties in this year's race, the three leaders being the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party, an eight-party pro-monarchy Coalition for Democracy, and the Koutla Alliance of Istiqlal, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces and the Party of Progress and Socialism, headed by incumbent Prime Minister Abbas El-Fassi, head of the Istiqlal Party.

Morocco Gets Muslim Brotherhood PM

However, the Azarbaycani Milli Istiqlal Party's members were dispersed by the police because their protest was not authorized.

Azeri activists arrested for urging Urumiyeh protests

PAM was the biggest winner in June 12 municipal elections, taking 21 percent of the votes, edging out the Istiqlal party of Prime Minister Abbas al-Fassi.

Morocco's Marrakech elects first woman mayor

The nationalist Istiqlal party came second, while the biggest winners compared with five years ago were the moderate Islamists of the Justice and Development Party (PJD), which tripled its representation from 14 to 42 seats despite only standing in 56 of the 91 constituencies.

Morocco: economic hangover after the party. (Countryfile)

In 1944 the main nationalist party, the Istiqlal Party, to which large numbers of women belonged, presented an Independence Manifesto; at the same time, masses of urban women took to the streets in most of the main cities demanding the ouster of the French.

Voices of Resistance: Oral Histories of Moroccan Women

Alal al-Fasi's classic Moroccan nationalist history, is another instance.(12) In it we encounter a Morocco cruelly overwhelmed by a dynamic imperialist West - until the advent of the Istiqlal Party. In al-Fasi's story the rural populations and subaltern classes had only cameo roles, while imperialism was defined primarily in political rather than economic terms.