The Preparatory Committee for the 9th Congress of the Justice and Development Party (PJD), chaired by Driss Azami, continued its tour of Morocco. On Sunday, June 9, the committee held meetings with party members in the Oriental and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima regions, former electoral strongholds of the Islamists. The declared aim of these meetings is to secure another term for Abdelilah Benkirane at the head of the Lamp Party. «The participants of these regional meetings examined three documents: the general program, the political thesis and the party statutes», declared Abdellah Bouanou, president of the PJD group of deputies, on Monday, June 10. This communication effort by the PJD leadership is expected to continue in the coming months until the organization of the Islamists' next congress in the spring of 2025, one year before the 2026 legislative elections. Abdelilah Benkirane led the PJD from July 20, 2008 to December 10, 2017. Ousted in March 2017 after King Mohammed VI dismissed him from leading the new government, he resumed leadership of the PJD in October 2021 following the party's significant defeat in the September 8 legislative and municipal elections that year. Since then, however, the party has struggled to regain momentum. This is evidenced by its defeats in all the partial legislative elections in which its candidates have participated. The low participation of Moroccans in the demonstrations organized by the PJD in support of Gaza, compared to those organized by Al Adl wal Ihsane under the banner of the Front in Support of Palestine and Against Normalization, is further evidence of the PJD's loss of popularity.
