Excerpt
RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): Now, the second report from my recent trip to Morocco. Tonight, how changes sweeping the Arab world brought new elections in the North African nation and new hopes for greater democracy.
Moroccans have voted before, but this time was different. This was new. There's a promise of change from an Islamist party with new political powers, and Moroccans now find themselves eager, skeptical and curious about what may lie ahead.
The new constitution and the elections that followed were meant to avoid an Arab spring-style uprising, to give Moroccans a louder voice in the affairs of this country, after long years in which all the decisions that mattered were made by the king and his inner circle.
This year, 32 million Moroccans have looked on as, one by one, other Arab nations have erupted into struggle, uprising, deadly violence. What unfolded on the streets of Morocco was a peaceful, but similar refrain, the demand for a more democratic government.
When the protests subsided, King Mohammed VI quickly organized a constitutional referendum and, under the new rules, a national election, all part of a transition, the king said, toward greater power for people, and less for the palace.
The U.S. ambassador in Morocco, Sam Kaplan, calls the latest election a move in the right direction.
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