Consensual rotation is a political experience that Morocco experienced from 1998 to 2002 when the monarchy agreed with the left opposition on government participation for the first time in decades, marred by a declared conflict between the two parties, which resulted in many victims, the experiment ended in 2002 with the appointment of a prime minister from outside the political parties.

Important stage
The concept of consensual rotation indicates the launching of an important stage in the political history of the Kingdom of Morocco that ended the long conflict between the monarchy and some of the opposition parties that were organized within the framework of the democratic bloc.

Culminating in the positive open signs that the two parties together - especially in the 1990s - announced on February 4, 1998, the appointment of Abd al-Rahman al-Yousifi, the socialist leader and first writer of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces - the most powerful opposition party at the time - as prime minister.

The move raised high hopes for accelerating the democratization of the state, even though some voices still considered it a successful maneuver by King Hassan II to contain his opponents and create the atmosphere to ensure a smooth transfer of power to his crown prince who became King Mohammed VI.

The experiment page was folded in the summer of 2002 with the appointment of Idris Jettou to lead the post-2002 government, a technocrat who has no political path.

Historical background
The decade of the nineties can be considered a stage of labor and gestures that culminated in the assignment of King Hassan II the responsibility of leading the government to a figure who until that time was considered a historical opponent of the state, Abdul Rahman Al-Yousifi

The signs were clear with the release of political detainees, the creation of the Consultative Council for Human Rights, and the expansion of public freedoms, among others.

The well-known speech of Hassan II, in which he warned of the country’s exposure to cardiac arrest, according to a World Bank report on economic and social conditions, strongly suggested the necessity of comprehensive reform, especially as the country faced a difficult test in the social unrest that some cities witnessed in December 1990.

Within the opposition parties, the developments seemed more mature in the direction of accepting participation in the government, especially with the increasing role of new young elites eager to engage in the process of managing public affairs, where some considered that the time had come to put an end to the exhaustion of the opposition elites resulting from decades of government management.

Analysts also saw later that the late Hassan II’s knowledge of the seriousness of his illness prompted him to reinforce the political detente in the country, to consolidate the opposition’s relationship with the monarchy in preparation for the transfer of the throne to his crown prince, Mohammed bin Hassan, later Mohammed VI.

The concept of consensual rotation
Description of this historic agreement between the monarchy and the opposition in consensual alternation, and thinker Abdel Ilah Belqiziz explains this concept with two things, the first of which is that it is an incomplete rotation of the legislative quorum due to the lack of a democratic bloc in the parliamentary majority, as it only obtained a third of the seats in the parliament in legislations 2002, and thus needed a kind of consensus in which to breed a government led by the left. "

The second is that it is the fruit of political understanding and harmony between the king and the bloc, which has been produced by domestic and international political imperatives, and confidence-building measures have matured the greater part of its conditions.

Lords of rotation
The leader of the Socialist Union Party, Habib al-Maliki, revealed that Hassan II had started his contacts with Al-Yousifi since 1992.

The king made the first attempt to rotate in 1994, when the offer was of interest to the Secretary-General of the Independence Party, Muhammad Bustah, an ally of the Socialist Union in the Democratic Bloc, and negotiations failed due to the king's adherence to the survival of the then powerful Interior Minister, Idris Al-Basri.

Then the offer was renewed after the turn of the constitutional reforms that met some of the opposition's demands in the 1996 constitution voted by the opposition, in a sign of openness that did not conceal to the observers of political affairs.

On March 4, 1998, this consensual track culminated in the announcement of the appointment of a government led by Abd al-Rahman al-Yousifi after decades of opposition to Hassan II, including years of self-imposed exile in France.

The rotation government, which was announced on March 14 of the same year, consisted of a coalition that included the Socialist Union of Popular Forces and the Independence, Progress and Socialist Party, which are parties belonging to the bloc, to which the Popular Movement and the National Alliance of the Liberals joined.

The government of rotation underwent amendments during the reign of Mohamed VI, and the country's strongman, Interior Minister Idris Al-Basri, was sacked on November 9, 1999, and Ahmad al-Midawi, along with his friend King Fuad Ali al-Himma, was appointed secretary of state to the interior.

It is noteworthy that the party formation of ministers coexisted with a group that analysts have consistently called "ministries of sovereignty", which are ministries that have remained under the domination of the king, and it is related to the ministries of interior, justice, endowments, Islamic and foreign affairs as well as national defense.

The end of the consensual rotation
when King Mohammed VI assumed the throne to succeed his late father, Hassan II, who died on July 23, 1999, renewed confidence in Abd al-Rahman al-Yousifi as prime minister on September 26, 2000.

The experiment of consensual rotation ended with King Mohammed VI's decision to appoint Idriss Jettou as the first minister from outside the political parties on October 9, 2002, after the 2002 elections did not produce a clear majority coalition, especially since the 1996 constitution did not require the king to appoint the Prime Minister of the winning party, in contention What has been stipulated in the 2011 constitution.

The decision was criticized by the Socialist Union Party for the Popular Forces, which he described as a departure from the democratic methodology, but he returned to accept participation in the government on the pretext of continuing the reforms initiated by the Youssoufi government.

The outcome of the consensual rotation
The government of the consensual rotation continued until 2002, and the outcome of the experiment was controversial among those who considered it a foundational stage that included structural measures that prepare the ground for governance and reform, and who considered it limited achievements, especially in terms of the absence of a tangible improvement of economic and social conditions, but some considered that the property was The major beneficiary of the experience, which secured a smooth transition of governance from Hassan II to Mohammed VI.

In exchange for the many criticisms of the outcome of the experiment, Al-Yousifi had highlighted in a speech before the House of Representatives in August 2002 - any weeks before the end of the mission - several aspects of the government's positives on the political, economic and social levels.

In the field of human rights, he referred to the installation of the independent commission to compensate victims of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention, to settle the financial and administrative status of those expelled and arrested for political or trade union reasons from state employees or public institutions, and to expand and fortify the public freedoms space (changing the press law, the law on associations and assemblies), and ensuring Electoral integrity, and women's political empowerment.

On the other hand, the outcome included the opening of workshops to reform the education and training system, maintaining indicators of the total financial balance in negative economic conditions, reducing debt and launching projects to advance the development of the rural world.