Rabat, September 25 — Morocco’s parliamentary elections have redrawn the balance among the kingdom’s main parties, with provisional results published on September 24 showing the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) emerging as the largest single force and the National Rally of Independents (RNI) losing the position it held after the last vote. The figures, provisional, put PAM on 97 seats in the 395-member House of Representatives, up from 87 in 2021. The RNI, which led the outgoing government, fell from 102 seats to 66.
The Istiqlal Party dropped from 81 to 65. The remaining seats were distributed among several other parties.
The most striking movement belongs to the Justice and Development Party (PJD), which rose from just 13 seats to 54 — a comeback that restores it as a substantial parliamentary bloc after its collapse five years ago.
A governing trio, reshuffled
The three parties that formed the outgoing government did not emerge with the same parliamentary weight. PAM gained 10 seats; the RNI shed 36; Istiqlal lost 16. The RNI was the largest party after the 2021 elections and went on to lead the government.
Five years later, PAM has moved into first place in the provisional results, while the RNI and Istiqlal are separated by a single seat. Turnout was 38.08 percent of registered voters, against 50.86 percent in 2021 and 42.27 percent in 2016.
That makes it the second-lowest level recorded under King Mohammed VI. The elections were held against a backdrop of considerable social and political mobilisation in recent years, including protests involving younger Moroccans over employment, healthcare, education and living costs. Those grievances were expressed outside the ballot box as well as through parties and elections.
What the result sets in motion
Under Article 47 of Morocco’s Constitution, the king appoints the head of government from the political party that comes first in elections for the House of Representatives. That gives PAM the first position in the government formation process, but it does not give the party a parliamentary majority. A majority in the 395-member House requires at least 198 seats.
According to the provisional figures, PAM, the RNI and Istiqlal could renew their three-party coalition without bringing in another party. Together they hold 228 of the 395 seats, comfortably above the 198 needed for a majority.
Whether tensions exposed during the campaign can be put aside is a separate question. PAM and the RNI spent the campaign trading accusations despite having governed together for five years. Their disagreements became part of the electoral contest itself, alongside the competition over the government’s record and the parties’ respective programmes.
The possibility of another coalition between the two parties was also questioned during the campaign. Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, PAM’s national coordinator, said that if the RNI came first, she personally would not want to join another government led by the party.
The next step is the government formation process, which Article 47 hands to PAM as the first-placed party. The arithmetic points to a renewed three-party coalition, but the campaign’s unresolved arguments leave the shape of that government an open question.
