Inequalities, unemployment and mistrust in Morocco's legislative systems

The meetings will be open between 08:00 and 19:00 (the same time in Lisbon). Preliminary results should be known by the end of the night.

Some 16 million people, a total of 36 million inhabitants, are called to the polls to elect the 395 Members of the House of Representatives. The rate of participation, particularly among young people, will be one of the main tests of these elections.

The new head of the government will leave the party who will take first place in the legislature. Appointed by King Mohammed VI, he will be in charge of forming an executive for five years, although the great orientations of the strategic sectors remain the prerogative of the monarch.

The rise in unemployment, rising prices, inequalities and the crisis of confidence in the political class are at the heart of the challenges of these elections, which take place less than two months after the mass arrival of migrants, mostly young Moroccans, to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

The migration crisis took a central place in the campaign, side by side with promises to improve the purchasing power and quality of life of Moroccans, who dominated the speeches of the parties.

In the absence of polls, prohibited by electoral law, the press and observers put the National Union of Independents (RNI), ahead of the current government coalition, among the favorites.

Although he was away from the leadership of the INR, Moroccan government leader Aziz Akhannouch led the party's campaign, defending the executive's balance sheet, namely the generalisation of social coverage and the implementation of direct social support.

However, the also successful entrepreneur is often faced with accusations of conflicts of interest related to his company Afriquia, leader of the distribution of hydrocarbons in Morocco.

In the face of the INR, the other political formation pointed out as a favorite is the Partido da Authenticidade e Modernidade (PAM). The two centre-right parties, ideologically close, were founded by personalities close to the palace.

A few weeks ago, the WFP managed to attract a popular figure: the Minister responsible for the Budget, Fouzi Lekjaa, so far best known for his role ahead of the Moroccan Royal Football Federation.

“ Through our program, we want to make youth a force capable of bringing added value instead of being left behind,” Lekjaa said in the campaign, committing to “improve purchasing power” and “increasing wages.”.

In the absence of an assumed leader, the other figure of the WFP is Fatima Ezzahra Mansouri, Minister of Regional Planning and Mayor of Marrakesh, appointed by the local press as the possible first head of the Government in the history of his country, if his party wins.

Training was, however, achieved by a corruption case. Justice sentenced two WFP figures in June to 10 and 12 years in prison in a vast case of drug trafficking known as “Saara Escobar”.

The Istiqlal (right), a historical party led by Nizar Baraka, the current Minister of Equipment, also has possibilities, with a discourse centered on the social challenges of the country.

In the opposition, the Justice and Development Party (PJD, Islamist) claims to want to embody the “ruture” to “fight” corruption and conflicts of interest.