Aleila qabl al-istifte'

This is the evening before the election and I can feel the energy in the air (as well as hear the chanting and honking outside my window). I have seen no large-scale demonstrations like I described this past Sunday, but instead today there are a lot of small groups holding banners, chanting and whistling. Some demonstrators wear red shirts with slogans like "I LOVE MY KING, I LOVE MY COUNTRY." I was drinking tea with my host family when a convoy of about twenty trucks with banners proclaiming نعم للدستور (YES ON THE CONSTITUTION) drove down the street outside my building honking the whole way.  We all ran to the balcony to watch the convoy as it went by.

Here are two excellent articles to bring you up to speed on the referendum. The first is from the Qatar-based news network Al-Jazeera, and the second is from the Saudi Arabia-based news network Al-Arabiya. Keep in mind that both networks have their own biases, but they also provide excellent coverage of issues in the Arab World.

The gist of the articles (which pretty much line up with my personal opinions) is that the referendum will likely result in a majority YES vote on the new constitution. The government has pretty much ensured this by campaigning in ways that would be illegal in the United States, such as posting campaign signs in public buses and in the windows of public buildings. In the streets of Meknes, you will only find signs for YES on the constitution. I do not know exactly why that is. However, as I said previously, the size of the marches on Sunday was about equal for the February 20th Movement as for supporters of the proposed reforms.

The reforms, unfortunately, are so cosmetic that the king will benefit whether the reforms are passed or not, and you can read the details on that in the articles posted above.

On a personal note, I can now brag that women are literally throwing themselves at me. Yesterday was so hot that I decided to walk to the hotel to swim in the pool with some friends. At one point I was standing in the pool and talking with a few other guys from my program when I feel a huge splash and a girl's arms wrap around me. The girl pushed herself off of me, giggling, and said, "I'm sorry!" in a French Moroccan accent. She swam to her giggling friends and on the guys told me, laughing, "She literally jumped at you. That wasn't an accident." This was confirmed when she did it again, and then when her friend did the same thing. After that we decided to move away from them.

I'm not entirely sure how flirting works here, but I'm pretty sure I'm now legally married in Morocco.