How Morocco's king dealt a blow to political Islam

Morocco's governing Islamist party has suffered a shocking defeat in recent elections - a turn of events reverberating across North Africa given its pioneering role for political Islam amid the Arab Spring.

The Islamist Development and Justice Party (PJD), which was the first Islamist party to come to power in an election in the region and the wider Middle East, found its share of the vote was decimated from 125 to a mere 12 seats.

Back in 2011 the sense of a new beginning for many in Morocco was real.

The development chimed with the times.

The protests that erupted first in Tunisia, later known as the Arab Spring, were in full swing. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya were all toppled that year.

Islamists parties were poised to win elections in Egypt and Tunisia and to change the course of history, as many had hoped.

Morocco's King Mohammed VI saw where the wind was blowing and acted swiftly to pre-empt any similar upheaval that could threaten his throne.