Morocco
Country in northwest Africa, bounded to the north and northwest by
the Mediterranean Sea, to the east and southeast by Algeria, and to
the south by Western Sahara.
Government
Under the 1992 constitution, Morocco is an Islamic state headed by
an hereditary monarch. There is a 333-member chamber of representatives,
the Majlis An- Nuwab, serving a six-year term; 222 are directly elected
by universal suffrage and the remainder are chosen by an electoral college
of local councillors and employers' and employees' representatives.
The king appoints a cabinet and prime minister who are responsible to
the assembly and the king. Legislative powers are shared between the
monarch and the assembly, each being able to initiate laws. The king
may dissolve the assembly by decree, after taking constitutional advice,
and the assembly may dismiss the government through a vote of no- confidence.
History
In 1912 Morocco became independent under Sultan Muhammad V. The former
Spanish protectorate joined the new state, together with Tangier, which
had previously been an international zone. The sultan was restyled king
of Morocco in 1957.
The struggle for independence in Morocco was shorter and less harrowing
than in neighbouring French Algeria, where the revolution was
well under way by this date; this was partly because Morocco's
colonial ties were much looser, and partly because Moroccan independence
involved no substantial change in the form of government.
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