Elections Results In Morocco: Justice And Development Party Routed

Rabat, Sept 9 (TNA) The first results of the September 8 poll in Morocco are out and the biggest highlight was the routing of the Justice and Development Party (PJD), which was at the head of the government for 10 years. Ts numbers dipped from a high of 125 seats to a bare 12 seats.

The PJD thus gave way to the National Rally of Independents (RNI) which at the last count of the ballots (96%) had bagged 97 seats. The RNI, headed by billionaire Aziz Akhannouch, now dominates the political landscape, thus showing an increase in power compared to its 2016 score when it had a mere 37 seats.

The future head of government, who will succeed PJDist Saad Eddine El Othmani, will come from the ranks of the winning party. The September 8 election also signalled the return of Morocco's oldest party, namely Istiqlal, which managed to accumulate 78 seats thus placing itself in 3rd position behind the Party Authenticity and Modernity (82 seats), considered until then as the main formation of the opposition.

The rest of the seats are divided between the USFP (35 seats), the Popular Movement (26 seats), the Progress and Socialism Party (20 seats) and the Constitutional Union (18 seats). The configuration of the Moroccan Parliament therefore changes completely. That of the government coalition will be just as important.

The general elections (legislative, municipal and regional) held on September 8, 2021 in Morocco took place in a very specific context. The socio-economic crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic and having spared no country in the world did not prevent a rather good mobilization of the electorate with a participation rate of 50.35% higher than during the legislatures of 2011 (45.40%) and 2016 (42.29%).

The transparency in which these elections were held reflects Morocco's serene and strong commitment to democracy. The element to remember from this election is the heavy defeat suffered by the PJD which lost 112 seats compared to 2016.

After 10 years of government, the popularity of this party has worn down and weakened, which has gone through internal tensions, dissent and divisions on a number of issues.

Number of registered voters: 17,509,316

Participation rate: 50.35%