A group of Istiqlal Party (PI) members have denounced what they called the “individual decisions” of the party’s Secretary General, Hamid Chabat, calling for change to “restore the position of the party in Morocco’s [political scene.]”

In a joint communiqué, issued on Saturday morning and signed by 14 out of 26 members of the IP’s executive board, the party members criticized Chabat’s decision to freeze the membership of four members of the party.

“[We] denounce Chabat’s behaviors, which violate the principles of the party and discredit it,” said the group.

The signatories called for holding a  meeting of an extraordinary National Council to organize the Preparatory Committee of the party’s Seventeenth General Congress.

They stressed  that Hamid Chabat had not responded to the initiative put forth by a majority of executive board members to preserve the unity of the party and offer the “appropriate atmosphere” for the party’s upcoming congress.

The communiqué was signed among other ranking members by Karim Ghallab, Mohammed Ansari, Yasmina Badou, Hamdi Ouled Rachid, Abdessamad Qayouh, Rahal Makkawi, Mariam Maalainin, and Fouad Qari.

Last month, PI ranking member Nizar Baraka called upon party members to undertake “courageous self-criticism” to save the party, urging them to make the next congress a “moment of reconciliation.”

Source :Morocco World News