Authorities in Morocco pulled two weekly magazines from newsstands after the publications featured an opinion poll on King Mohammed VI. This, despite the poll showed most Moroccans saw their monarch in a positive light.
- AFP File
Tel Quel, a French-language publication, and Nichane, an Arabic-language magazine, were seized on Saturday after Communications Minister Khalid Naciri explained that “Any publication, be it foreign or Moroccan, that publishes the poll will be banned. Monarchy cannot be the subject of opinion polls and those who practice this sport are aware of the consequences.”
Tel Quel and Nichane both have had previous problems when they published articles on King Mohammed that were considered libelous.
The French daily newspaper, Le Monde, performed the poll through the aforementioned magazines to conduct a poll on how Moroccans felt about their King, as he celebrated 10 years on the throne.
As it turns out, the majority of the North African Kingdom – 91 percent – see King Mohammed VI favorably, though they’d like to see him do more to reduce the poverty rate.
49 percent of the people see Morocco as a democratic monarchy, while 33 percent think of it as an authoritarian state.
In addition, nearly half of Moroccans were not pleased when the King passed a law in 2004 which increased women’s rights with divorce, property, among other things.
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