At the central level the scrutin uninominal voting system was selected over some form of the scrutin de liste system, even though the latter had been recommended by Duverger and favored by all political parties. The choice of the single member district was dictated to a certain extent by problems of communication and understanding in the more remote areas of the country, but it also served to minimize the national political value of the elections. Although the elections were for local officials, it was not necessary to conduct the elections so as to prevent parties from publicly identifying their candidates. With multiple member districts the still fragmentary local party organizations could have operated more effectively and parties might have been encouraged to state their positions more clearly. Both parties and the Ministry of the Interior were busily at work after the elections trying to unearth the political affiliations of the successful candidates and, thereby, give the elections a confidential but known degree of national political significance. Since a national interpretation cannot be avoided it is unfortunate that the elections were not held in a way to maximize party responsibility and the educational effect of mass political participation.

The general setting of the Moroccan election may also encourage the deterioration of local party organization. The concentration of effective power in Rabat leads not only to party bickering, but to distraction from local activity that might have had many auxiliary benefits in addition to contributing to more meaningful elections. Interesting evidence can be found in the results of the Chamber of Commerce elections, which took place three weeks before national elections. The Istiqlal sponsored U.M.C.I.A. (L'Union Marocaine des Commercants, Industrialistes et Artisans) was opposed by candidates of the new U.N.F.P. (L'Union National des Forces Populaires) in nearly all urban centers. As the more conservative group with strong backing from wealthy businessmen, the U.M.C.I.A. was generally favored against the more progressive, labor based U.N.F.P. The newer party campaigned heavily, while the older, more confident party expected the Moroccan merchants and small businessmen to support them as they had done for many years. The local Istiqlal and U.M.C.I.A. offices did not campaign and lost heavily. The value of the elections was lost, both as an experiment in increased political participation and as a reliable indicator of commercial interest, as shown in Table /1,.