{"id":46209,"date":"2026-09-23T07:31:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T05:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=46209"},"modified":"2026-09-23T07:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T05:35:22","slug":"moroccans-vote-in-election-set-to-shape-government-before-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/moroccans-vote-in-election-set-to-shape-government-before-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0Moroccans vote in election set to shape government before World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Moroccans vote in an election this Wednesday that will shape the government overseeing the final stages of a $20-billion push \u200bto prepare for the 2030 World Cup and projects to direct economic gains towards the country&#8217;s disenchanted youth.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The \u200cparliamentary poll is not expected to fundamentally alter the balance of power in Morocco, where the king retains sweeping powers over policy direction, defence and foreign affairs.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>But the next parliament will be tasked with implementing initiatives increasingly aimed at addressing youth discontent, highlighted by a mass border rush on the Spanish enclave \u200bof Ceuta and deadly Gen-Z-led protests last year.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The current government is made up of three parties including two founded by men close \u200bto the palace which unseated a moderate Islamist party that came to power a decade earlier after \u2060the 2011 Arab Spring protests.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Those demonstrations led the king to devolve more powers to an elected parliament before later reasserting control over \u200bareas such as Foreign Affairs and the Interior Ministry.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Under a constitution adopted in 2011, the king appoints the Prime Minister from the party \u200bthat wins the highest share of parliament&#8217;s 395 seats.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Prime Minister must then negotiate a coalition before submitting a list of cabinet members for royal approval.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Polling stations will open at 8 a.m. (CAT) and close at 7 p.m. (CAT), and preliminary results are usually announced the day after an election.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The turnout, \u200bparticularly among young voters, will be closely watched because it will be seen as a barometer for citizens&#8217; engagement and trust in \u200belected institutions.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>About 27 million Moroccans are of voting age, but only 15.8 million are registered on the electoral lists, a drop of about 12% from \u200cthe \u20602021 election.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The two biggest parties in the current parliament, the ruling National Rally of Independents (RNI) and the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), have each pledged to create about one million jobs over the next five-year term, and made promises to improve housing, wages and hospitals.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The two govern together in a coalition but have traded blame during the campaign over a failure to halt the rise of food prices \u200band other policy shortcomings.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Because of \u200bthe disagreements, PAM leaders have \u2060ruled out joining another coalition with RNI if they come first.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, a billionaire businessperson who has led the government since 2021, is not standing again after stepping down as RNI leader \u200bthis year.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Fouzi Lekjaa, the Budget Minister and president of Morocco&#8217;s football federation and Chairperson of the \u200borganising committee for \u2060the 2030 World Cup soccer finals, joined PAM&#8217;s leadership weeks before the election.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Morocco is pouring investments into stadiums, railways and other infrastructure before the World Cup, which it will co-host with Spain and Portugal, and aims to double economic output per capita by 2035.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The International Monetary Fund \u2060has estimated \u200bthe planned spending at around 190 billion Dirhams, or around $20 billion, amounting to \u200bnearly 12% of its gross domestic product in 2024.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Other parties in contention include the ruling nationalist, conservative-leaning Istiqlal party, the Islamist Justice and Development Party, which suffered a \u200bcrushing defeat in the last vote, and a number of leftist parties.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":46210,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-46209","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Under a constitution adopted in 2011, the king appoints the Prime Minister from the party \u200bthat wins the highest share of parliament's 395 seats.","published_date":"","news_description":"Under a constitution adopted in 2011, the king appoints the Prime Minister from the party \u200bthat wins the highest share of parliament's 395 seats.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46216,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46209\/revisions\/46216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=46209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}