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2021 Moroccan general election
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2021 Moroccan general election
General elections were held in Morocco on 8 September 2021 to elect 395 members of the House of Representatives. The National Rally of Independents led by Aziz Akhannouch won the most seats (102), a gain of 65 seats from the previous election. The liberal Authenticity and Modernity Party took second place with 87 seats, a net loss of 15 seats compared to their tally in the 2016 elections. The centre-right Istiqlal Party gained 35 seats and took third place with 81 seats total. The governing Justice and Development Party suffered an electoral wipeout and won only 13 seats, a net loss of 112 seats for the party.
July 2020 marked the 21st year of King Mohammed VI's reign in Morocco. The first two decades of the 21st century saw civil and political reforms, as well as "popular disillusionment" with the socioeconomic and political state of the nation. In response to the 2011 protests that occurred as part of the Arab Spring, King Mohammed VI announced a series of constitutional reforms, passed through a national referendum in July 2011. The reforms were described by the BBC as "expanding the powers of parliament and the prime minister but leaving the king with broad authority over the government". The Islamic State's presence in the region also posed a threat to Morocco throughout the 2010s.
In 2014 the Freedom of the Press report gave Morocco a rating of "not free".
After the 2016 elections, protests continued to occur; in 2016 and 2017, a movement known as Hirak Rif demonstrated in the streets of northern Morocco against corruption and unemployment. In 2017, the Freedom of the Press report upgraded Morocco's rating to "partly free". By June 2019, the BBC reported that "almost half of Moroccans [were] considering emigrating" to other countries.
2020 saw the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, a law was passed to outlaw many forms of making posts online. The government claimed the bill was written "without prejudice to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of digital communications", and shortly began arresting people for posting information it deemed to be false. Morocco's initial response to the pandemic put it "among the world's COVID-19 success stories" in the first months of the pandemic; lockdown measures first implemented on 20 March began to be eased after several months, and a third phase of gradually lifting the lockdown had begun on 19 July. However, the reduction in cases came at a cost: by late July, the government's actions during the pandemic would be described as a "reversal of democratic reforms", with Parliament being "sidelined, its duties increasingly usurped by the Makhzen". The Interior Ministry suspended local council meetings (even remote meetings held online), an action the Constitution reserved exclusively for Parliament. While a restriction on visitation from foreign business visitors was lifted on 10 September, a sharp increase in cases (and the possibility of a second wave of infections) prompted the restrictions to be reinstated.
In November 2020 the Polisario Front ended a 29-year ceasefire agreement with Morocco in Western Sahara, blaming Morocco for breaking the terms of the agreement. In December, the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement established diplomatic relations between the two nations; Morocco became the sixth Arab League member to do so, and the fourth in the space of four months (along with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan). In exchange, the Donald Trump administration announced that the United States would recognize Morocco's claim over Western Sahara.
Parties confirmed to be contesting the election included the ruling Justice and Development Party (PJD), the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), and the Istiqlal Party (PI).
Morocco has a bicameral legislature whose two chambers are the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives has 395 seats, which are elected by proportional representation and consist of two tiers: 305 seats are elected from 92 multi-member local constituencies (of two to six seats) and the remaining 90 are elected from twelve constituencies based on the Regions of Morocco (of 3 to 12 seats). Of these 90 seats, a minimum of one third must be women, who must also be the first and second candidates on each list.
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2021 Moroccan general election
General elections were held in Morocco on 8 September 2021 to elect 395 members of the House of Representatives. The National Rally of Independents led by Aziz Akhannouch won the most seats (102), a gain of 65 seats from the previous election. The liberal Authenticity and Modernity Party took second place with 87 seats, a net loss of 15 seats compared to their tally in the 2016 elections. The centre-right Istiqlal Party gained 35 seats and took third place with 81 seats total. The governing Justice and Development Party suffered an electoral wipeout and won only 13 seats, a net loss of 112 seats for the party.
July 2020 marked the 21st year of King Mohammed VI's reign in Morocco. The first two decades of the 21st century saw civil and political reforms, as well as "popular disillusionment" with the socioeconomic and political state of the nation. In response to the 2011 protests that occurred as part of the Arab Spring, King Mohammed VI announced a series of constitutional reforms, passed through a national referendum in July 2011. The reforms were described by the BBC as "expanding the powers of parliament and the prime minister but leaving the king with broad authority over the government". The Islamic State's presence in the region also posed a threat to Morocco throughout the 2010s.
In 2014 the Freedom of the Press report gave Morocco a rating of "not free".
After the 2016 elections, protests continued to occur; in 2016 and 2017, a movement known as Hirak Rif demonstrated in the streets of northern Morocco against corruption and unemployment. In 2017, the Freedom of the Press report upgraded Morocco's rating to "partly free". By June 2019, the BBC reported that "almost half of Moroccans [were] considering emigrating" to other countries.
2020 saw the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, a law was passed to outlaw many forms of making posts online. The government claimed the bill was written "without prejudice to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of digital communications", and shortly began arresting people for posting information it deemed to be false. Morocco's initial response to the pandemic put it "among the world's COVID-19 success stories" in the first months of the pandemic; lockdown measures first implemented on 20 March began to be eased after several months, and a third phase of gradually lifting the lockdown had begun on 19 July. However, the reduction in cases came at a cost: by late July, the government's actions during the pandemic would be described as a "reversal of democratic reforms", with Parliament being "sidelined, its duties increasingly usurped by the Makhzen". The Interior Ministry suspended local council meetings (even remote meetings held online), an action the Constitution reserved exclusively for Parliament. While a restriction on visitation from foreign business visitors was lifted on 10 September, a sharp increase in cases (and the possibility of a second wave of infections) prompted the restrictions to be reinstated.
In November 2020 the Polisario Front ended a 29-year ceasefire agreement with Morocco in Western Sahara, blaming Morocco for breaking the terms of the agreement. In December, the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement established diplomatic relations between the two nations; Morocco became the sixth Arab League member to do so, and the fourth in the space of four months (along with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan). In exchange, the Donald Trump administration announced that the United States would recognize Morocco's claim over Western Sahara.
Parties confirmed to be contesting the election included the ruling Justice and Development Party (PJD), the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), and the Istiqlal Party (PI).
Morocco has a bicameral legislature whose two chambers are the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives has 395 seats, which are elected by proportional representation and consist of two tiers: 305 seats are elected from 92 multi-member local constituencies (of two to six seats) and the remaining 90 are elected from twelve constituencies based on the Regions of Morocco (of 3 to 12 seats). Of these 90 seats, a minimum of one third must be women, who must also be the first and second candidates on each list.
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