Speaker of House of Representatives Presides Ceremony to Appoint Jury of National Prize for Studies and Research on Parliamentary Action

Speaker of House of Representatives Habib El Malki presided on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, a ceremony to appoint the jury of the National Prize for Studies and Research on Parliamentary Action.

In his address on this occasion, the Speaker of the House of Representatives noted that the launch of this prize is part of implementing the provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives and the framework partnership and cooperation agreement linking the House of Representatives to the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Department of Higher Education and Scientific Research under the Ministry, and the public universities.

Mr. El Malki noted that this initiative is an honest expression of the House’s will to institutionalize the academic scientific cooperation with public universities, as they are the hub of production and development of science, thought, and knowledge. The initiative also reflects the openness of the House on its social entourage in its various aspects, mainly the scientific and academic ones, considering the important role of science and knowledge in achieving progress and development.

The Speaker of the House highlighted that the goal behind launching the National Prize for Studies and Research on Parliamentary Action is to give value to the distinguished scientific papers, either those published as books or PhD dissertations, and to encourage researchers, especially young ones, to put further efforts in following, studying, and analyzing all that is related to the constitutional and political system of our country and its path towards political and democratic development. In the same respect, he said, “This would link scientific research to the social reality, which would make of the scientific papers and studies specializing in parliamentary action an essential reference to the House components and other actors and stakeholders.”

The Speaker called for advancing scientific research on parliamentary action through diversifying the areas and forms of cooperation between the House of Representatives and universities, mainly through creating think tanks and advisory boards on the questions relating to legislation. He also called for consolidating and reinforcing university research on parliamentary affairs and democracy by creating Master degrees on parliamentary action and democracy, and establishing laboratories, centers, and research teams that specialize in parliamentary law.

On their side, the appointed members of the Jury lauded the launch of the Prize. The jury Chairperson Mohamed Achergui stated that this initiative “proves the openness of the House of Representatives to its entourage and entrenches the position of the legislative institution as a space for public and social dialogue.”

The members of the jury expressed their trust in the role of this initiative in encouraging the emergence of a new generation of researchers on parliamentary action and giving a new impetus to scientific research. They also affirmed the importance of giving “parliamentary law” the importance it deserves at the academic level.

The Prize jury comprises:

- Mohamed Achergui, the Chairperson of the jury, former university professor and former Chairperson of the Constitutional Council,

- Farid El Bacha, university professor and Dean of the Agdal Faculty of Law in Rabat,

- Amina El Messaoudi, university professor and former member of the Advisory Panel on Regionalization and the Advisory Panel on the Constitutional Amendment,

- Abdelilah El Abdi, university professor and former head of the department of common law and political sciences at the Agdal Faculty of Law and Vice-Chairman of the Moroccan Constitutional Law Association,

- Rachid El Medouar, university professor and former member of the Constitutional Council and the Parliament.