Rabat – The Justice and Development Party (PJD) has seen one of its most successful elections ever, drawing more than 1.5 million votes in 2015’s Municipal and Regional Elections in Morocco.
This number was disclosed by Morocco’s daily newspaper Akhbar Al-Yaoum.
The same sources said that the PJD obtained the highest number of votes (1.5 million) followed by the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) with over 1 million votes, while the Istiqlal Party obtained less than 1 million votes.
In other words, the PJD outperformed PAM by 500,000 votes, but trailed in behind PAM and the Istiqlal Party in regards to total seats won. This can be explained under the Moroccan voting system in which parties with most votes do not take the most seats.
Meanwhile, this win is considered such a big achievement for the PJD as the party got only 600,000 votes in the last local elections, which took place in 2009.
The election results show that the PJD enjoys a massive popularity in urban areas across Morocco, while PAM and the Istiqlal party have strong backing in the countryside.
The Justice and Development Party took the most seats for regional councils with 25% of the total, but fell short in the local councils, which are weighed towards rural areas.
The Party of Authenticity and Modernity took 6,655 seats of the local councils, (21%), while the Istiqlal Party took 5,106 seats, or 16% of the total.
The results show that the PJD is strongest in areas with higher-educated voters, as it took control of councils in the main cities of Casablanca, Tangier, Rabat, Fez and Agadir with just under 16% of seats — three times what it won in the 2009 local elections.
