Morocco heads to the polls on 23 September in elections shaped by concerns over turnout, youth participation, and political trust.
Moroccans will go to the polls on 23 September to elect the House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament. It will be the sixth legislative election since King Mohammed VI came to the throne and the fourth since the constitutional reforms introduced in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in 2011.
Expectations are high that the new parliament will help address persistent weaknesses in health care, education and employment. The vote also comes as Morocco takes on a series of strategic commitments, from advancing its autonomy plan for Western Sahara to preparing to co-host the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal.
At home, the government faces pressure to consolidate Morocco’s social-state reforms, reduce unemployment and make room for a new generation of political leaders. Yet the election takes place against a backdrop of declining political engagement, particularly among young Moroccans and parts of the country’s political and professional elite.
Rachid Lamsallam, a Moroccan journalist and political analyst, identifies two immediate tests for the next parliament: whether it can produce a legislature capable of confronting the country’s political and economic challenges, and whether the resulting government can deliver the major economic, development, and infrastructure projects on its agenda.
The elections also present a test of Morocco’s political system itself. Lamsallam argues that participation must be revived and that practices that have eroded confidence in political life must be addressed. The prosecution of several parliamentarians in corruption cases, he says, has further contributed to disengagement among younger voters and political elites.
For Rachid Lazraq, head of Morocco’s North Africa Centre for Studies and Research, the more fundamental challenge is restoring trust in elections and representative institutions.
That means ensuring genuine competition, improving the quality of political programmes, curbing the influence of money and patronage, maintaining administrative neutrality and giving political forces more equal access to traditional and digital media.
Lazraq also argues that electoral violations should be met with swift and effective sanctions where they are proven.
For Morocco’s next parliament, therefore, the question is not simply who wins seats, but whether the election can restore confidence in a political system facing growing demands for better representation and delivery.
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Falling turnout
Turnout in the upcoming elections poses another challenge for the state and political parties across the ideological spectrum.
A low participation rate would revive memories of Morocco’s 2007 elections, when turnout fell to just 37%, potentially casting a shadow over the political reform process pursued since the Arab Spring.
The Moroccan House of Representatives has 395 seats, whose holders are elected through proportional representation under a two-tier system.
A total of 305 seats are elected from 92 local multi-member constituencies, with each constituency having between two and six seats.
The remaining 90 seats are elected from 12 constituencies distributed across Morocco’s regions, with between three and 12 seats, mainly reserved for women.
According to Moroccan Interior Ministry data, about 57% of current parliamentarians (227 members, including 204 men, 20 women, and three parliamentary advisers) are seeking to retain their seats in the 23 September elections.
Voting demographics
The number of registered voters stands at 15,801,162, compared with 17,983,490 in the 2021 elections, a decrease of about 2.18 million registered voters, or just over 12%.
Men account for 54% of those eligible to vote, compared with 46% women.
According to Moroccan Interior Ministry data, older age groups make up the largest share of the electorate, with those aged 60 and above accounting for about 30% of all voters, or approximately 4.74 million voters.
By contrast, youth participation in the electoral rolls remains limited.
Those aged between 18 and 24 account for only about 3%, or approximately 474,000 voters, despite the number of young people who have reached voting age standing at around 3.89 million.
When the 25-34 age group is factored in, accounting for about 15% of registered voters, under-35s make up no more than 18% of the total electorate.
28 parties in the parliamentary race
A total of 28 political parties are taking part in the 23 September elections, with 1,848 candidate lists comprising 1,783 male and female candidates across local and regional constituencies, in addition to two lists of independent candidates.
A comparison with the 8 September 2021 legislative elections reveals a notable discrepancy.
The number of participating parties has fallen from 31 to 28, while the number of lists has risen from 1,704 to 1,850, and the number of candidates has risen from 6,815 to 7,288.
This indicates that the competition has become more crowded despite the lower number of participating political forces.
Moroccan Interior Ministry data show that the parties with the strongest presence in local constituencies are the Authenticity and Modernity Party, the Istiqlal Party, the Party of Progress and Socialism, and the Justice and Development Party.
Each has submitted 92 local lists, the maximum possible under the system used for these constituencies, while each party has 305 candidates.
The National Rally of Independents, the leader of the current government coalition, comes directly behind these parties in terms of coverage.
It has submitted 92 local lists covering all local constituencies, in addition to 11 regional lists.
Differences in the number of lists submitted by the parties taking part in the elections reflect the scale of each party’s presence.
They also provide an initial indication of the breadth of competition and the number of forces competing for parliamentary seats across the kingdom.
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Election boycott
The Justice and Charity Association, Morocco’s largest Islamic movement, is boycotting the legislative elections, citing the absence of “conditions for free and fair political competition”.
It said elections in Morocco “have failed to move the country towards democracy, freedom and justice”.
The Democratic Labour Way Party, the radical left-wing party, has also formally announced its decision to boycott the legislative elections, renewing its position of boycotting electoral events in the kingdom since its establishment.
The party linked its boycott decision to the fact that “the current political and constitutional conditions do not allow for fair and competitive elections capable of bringing about real change”.
Limited presence of women
The nominations for the next House of Representatives have sparked anger over the limited presence of women at the top of lists in local constituencies and the rejection of some nominations on lists headed by women.
The difficulty women face in obtaining party endorsements to run for office has been notable.
They will head 121 local lists out of 1,615, accounting for only 7.5% of all local lists, according to Moroccan Interior Ministry statistics.
Women’s main presence in the upcoming elections remains within regional lists reserved exclusively for them under the “quota” system, with 235 such lists.
Few independent parties
For the first time in the history of Moroccan elections, the state has adopted a package of direct incentives to lower the barrier for young people entering legislative institutions.
These include financial support covering 75% of campaign expenses for candidates under the age of 35, capped at 500,000 dirhams (about $55,000), and facilitating independent candidatures for young people to reduce their reliance on traditional parties’ “endorsements”.
These endorsements have been subject to “suspicions of exploitation” and are often granted to local notables.
Despite these incentives, official statistical data issued by the Interior Ministry revealed notably limited interest among non-affiliated candidates in taking part in the elections.
Only two lists containing five male and female candidates were submitted for the local constituencies in the 23 September elections, compared with candidates running under the names of 28 political parties across 92 constituencies.
Independent candidates were absent from the 12 regional constituencies.
Proxy voting for Moroccans abroad
The Moroccan Interior Ministry announced the launch of an online platform for arranging voting proxies for Moroccans living abroad who are registered on the electoral rolls.
This came as debate over their participation in elections in their countries of residence returned to the fore. Their participation has long been discussed without a final solution being found.
At least six million Moroccans live outside the kingdom, spread across Europe, North America and the Gulf.
They have significant economic and social weight in the country given their large remittances and the economic and tourism activity generated by their visits to their families and relatives every summer.
The platform allows each voter living outside Morocco to appoint a voter of their choice who is registered on the general electoral roll of one of the municipalities or districts in the kingdom to vote on their behalf on election day.
The demand for direct political participation by Moroccans living abroad in elections has remained on the table for years, amid various obstacles preventing this.
These are related to the method of voting, appropriate electoral boundaries and the proportion of representation, as well as the political sensitivity of party affiliation among Moroccans living abroad.
Crackdown on disinformation
The 23 September 2026 legislative elections are being held under new legal provisions that toughen penalties for producing fake news and fabricated digital content or publishing it with the intention of defaming voters and candidates or undermining the integrity of the electoral process.
The organic law governing the House of Representatives provides for imprisonment of between two and five years and a fine ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 dirhams for anyone who broadcasts or distributes a composition consisting of a person’s statements or image without their consent.
The same applies to anyone who publishes, broadcasts, transmits or distributes false news, claims and facts, or fabricated or falsified documents, with the intention of violating the privacy of or defaming a voter or candidate.
The same penalty applies to anyone who creates content using digital media, artificial intelligence tools or otherwise containing false or fabricated material with the intention of undermining the integrity and credibility of electoral operations.
$48 million for election campaigns
The Moroccan government has allocated 450 million dirhams ($48.3 million) to finance the election campaigns of political parties taking part in the September 2026 vote.
It has also allocated 50 million dirhams ($5.2 million) from this amount to candidate lists headed by or including candidates aged 35 or younger, with the aim of encouraging youth participation and strengthening their presence in representative institutions, provided that the applicable legal conditions are respected.
As a result, the amount of public funding allocated to election campaigns has increased significantly compared with the 2021 elections, when the state’s contribution did not exceed 160 million dirhams.
Meanwhile, the law has set an election spending ceiling of 600,000 dirhams (about $64,000) per candidate, requiring them to submit a detailed statement of the sources of their campaign funding and how it was spent to the relevant authorities.
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How do voters cast their ballots?
Voters cast their ballots under a proportional representation system based on the largest remainder rule.
Seats allocated to each constituency are distributed among candidate lists based on an “electoral quotient”, determined by dividing the number of registered voters in the relevant constituency by the number of seats allocated to it.
After the electoral quotient is determined for the relevant constituency, each list is awarded several seats equal to the number of times the total number of votes it received contains that quotient.
Each list retains the votes remaining after the seats it has won through this process have been calculated.
The seats that remain vacant after this process are then distributed according to the largest remainder rule, with seats successively going to the lists with the largest number of remaining votes.
Therefore, the number of seats each list receives is determined not only by its ranking according to the total number of votes, but also by the size of the remainder it retains after the first stage.
Who oversees the elections?
The Central Committee for Election Monitoring is responsible for ensuring the integrity and transparency of the electoral process at all stages and verifying compliance with the legal rules governing it.
The central committee consists of the interior minister and the prosecutor-general.
Regional and provincial committees also support its work at the local level.
The former comprises governors and public prosecutors, while the latter consists of provincial governors and prosecutors, with the aim of ensuring the integrity of electoral operations and monitoring them on the ground.
A total of 3,006 male and female observers, including delegations representing 20 international and regional bodies and organisations, will be able to monitor the various stages of the legislative elections scheduled to take place in Morocco on 23 September.
Since 2011, election observation in Morocco has been provided for in the constitution and regulated by law.
Morocco uses an independent election observation system rather than monitoring.
Observers only record violations in reports submitted to the relevant authorities, while monitors have the authority to intervene to stop any violations affecting the electoral process.
Who are the main contenders?
Twenty-eight parties and two independent lists are competing in the 23 September elections, but the main competing forces are divided into two camps.
The first consists of the parties in the current government majority, represented by the National Rally of Independents, which is seeking a second term at the head of the government, and the Authenticity and Modernity Party, the second party in the current government coalition.
The Authenticity and Modernity Party aspires to oust its ally, the National Rally of Independents, and achieve its longstanding goal of leading the Moroccan government after failing to do so in three previous elections (2011, 2016 and 2021).
While the “polarisation war” between the two parties expected to lead the party scene after 23 September was one of the most prominent features of the political scene on the eve of candidate registration and during the election campaign, the Istiqlal Party, Morocco’s oldest party, is seeking to benefit from the “battle to break the bones” between its two allies.
It is seeking to seize first place, paving the way for it to head what is known in Morocco as the “World Cup government”.
Meanwhile, opposition parties, represented by the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, the Party of Progress and Socialism, the Popular Movement and the Justice and Development Party, are seeking to spring a surprise or at least improve their position in the post-23 September political landscape.
Over recent days, Moroccan parties of different political orientations have raced to present their plans, answers and promises to address the economic and social challenges negatively affecting the lives of Moroccan citizens.
Party programmes have shown broad areas of overlap regarding economic and social priorities.
The main areas of convergence include consolidating the foundations of the social state, continuing to reform the universal health coverage programme, strengthening social protection, supporting targeted housing for low- and middle-income groups, promoting youth employment and economic recovery.
National Rally of Independents
The National Rally of Independents’ programme aims to create one million jobs during the next term, while reducing the unemployment rate from 10.8% to 9% by 2031.
It proposes raising the minimum wage to 5,000 dirhams a month, linking social support to inflation, and providing a tax credit of up to 5,000 dirhams annually for each child for families.
It also pledged to create hundreds of thousands of jobs linked to industry, services and the digital economy.
It presents these targets based on an assumed growth rate of 4.5% in 2025 and expected inflation of 0.9%, while maintaining fiscal balances.
The party, which is seeking to lead the government for a second consecutive term, also proposes extending the “pioneer” schools and middle schools programme by 2028 and secondary schools by 2031.
One of its plans includes increasing the number of universities from 12 to 27, upgrading 1,600 primary healthcare facilities, and establishing 200 additional facilities and 100 mobile units.
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Authenticity and Modernity Party
The party, which aspires to lead the Moroccan government for the first time in its history, aims to create one million net jobs between 2027 and 2031.
These would include 360,000 linked to the 2030 World Cup and related activities, 270,000 in the knowledge economy and high-value-added services, 250,000 in industry and import substitution, 80,000 in agriculture in rural areas, and 40,000 in the sports economy.
It also promised to reduce unemployment from 10.8% to 7% by 2031, meaning the creation of at least 200,000 net jobs annually.
It also promises to raise the minimum wage to 5,000 dirhams, increase the minimum pension to 3,000 dirhams, exempt gross salaries below 15,000 dirhams from income tax, and provide free electricity bills below 100 dirhams.
Istiqlal Party
The party proposes providing financial support of up to 5,000 dirhams (about $500) to young people preparing to marry, training 100,000 young people and preparing them to integrate into the global digital economy, and creating 2,000 specialist emergency doctors by 2031.
The party says it will equip all schools with internet access by the end of the primary education term, impose a 40% tax on the profits of monopolistic activities, and provide a tax deduction for families that bear the costs of educating their children.
The party also says it will introduce 16 measures to protect families’ purchasing power, including gradually raising wages and pensions and digitising 100% of public services.
Socialist Union of Popular Forces
The party pledged to create 250,000 industrial jobs, increase industrial exports by 40%, add 1.5 percentage points annually to growth through industrialisation, reduce unemployment to below 8%, reduce youth unemployment to below 10%, and raise women’s participation in the labour market to more than 30%.
It also promised to increase the number of healthcare providers to 4.5 per 1,000 people and reduce waiting times by 50%.
In education, it proposed increasing the research budget to 2% of gross domestic product, reducing overcrowding by 40%, raising graduate integration to 60%, creating 10 new university hubs and digitising university services by 100%.
Party of Progress and Socialism
The party’s programme is based on creating one million jobs, including 100,000 in the digital sector, employing 500,000 workers in the industrial sector, and increasing industry’s contribution to gross domestic product from 15% to 20%.
It also proposes raising wages by 15% in two stages, increasing the minimum wage and linking it to inflation, raising direct social support for families to 1,000 dirhams (about $100), and mobilising additional investment and resources in health, education, digital transformation and artificial intelligence.
The programme also includes tax reforms aimed at tax fairness and combating rent-seeking, establishing a public investment bank, and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and domestic production.
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Popular Movement
The party’s programme includes a promise to establish a social tax account for families, allowing them to deduct private education, healthcare and basic service expenses from their taxable income.
It also proposes launching a national price platform with an intervention mechanism when the price of a basket of basic goods rises by 20% within 30 days, and digitising administrative and tax procedures for businesses.
The party is also focused on expanding access to housing support in rural areas, strengthening services in mountainous and rural regions, and expanding Amazigh-language teaching.
According to Ouzzine, it criticises reducing the Amazigh budget to around 1 billion dirhams without sufficient impact on the ground.
Justice and Development Party
The Justice and Development Party is contesting the elections with an election programme centred on five main areas, including strengthening the democratic choice, education and training, healthcare and employment.
Under its healthcare proposals, the party plans to allocate annual funding from the general budget in exchange for public health centres and hospitals taking responsibility for providing these services.
The party also proposes extending health coverage to parents as part of the rights of insured people. It is calling for a comprehensive review of medicine pricing policy, particularly for expensive medicines, as well as a review of the decree regulating the sector.
On taxation, the party proposes imposing a 40% corporate tax rate on companies and businesses operating in sectors characterised by monopolistic, near-monopolistic or oligopolistic conditions.
Left Alliance
The alliance proposes a birth grant of 5,000 dirhams (about $500) for every mother who gives birth in a public hospital, establishing 3,000 free nurseries, and a monthly grant of 1,500 dirhams for unemployed graduates for a period not exceeding one year.
It also proposes creating 150,000 jobs for unemployed young people, raising the minimum wage to 5,000 net dirhams by 2029, providing a monthly independence allowance of 1,500 dirhams (about $150) for people with disabilities, a monthly dignity income of 1,500 dirhams for elderly people without pensions, and increasing pensions by 2,000 dirhams (about $200) a month.
It further says it will allocate 70.9 billion dirhams to education and universities and 80.2 billion dirhams to health, increasing the research and development budget to 1.2% of gross domestic product, employing 15,000 healthcare professionals and between 8,000 and 10,000 research professors.
It also says it will reduce medicine prices by between 30% and 50% and fully exempt basic goods and medicines from value-added tax.
What happens next?
The Moroccan Interior Ministry is expected to announce the results the day after the vote, on 24 September.
However, the results will not become final until the Constitutional Court rules on the appeals.
After the results are announced and the leading party is known, the process moves from the electoral law to the constitution, with the Moroccan monarch appointing the head of the political party that won in the elections as prime minister.
It has been the political convention for the king to choose the party leader for the position.
Once appointed, the prime minister holds consultations with the country’s other political parties to form a government coalition that secures a parliamentary majority.
After an agreement is reached with the government, the appointed prime minister proposes the names of its members to the king, who appoints them in accordance with Article 47 of the constitution.
The government is not considered official until it receives the confidence of an absolute majority of members of the House of Representatives, or at least 198 votes.
