Rabat – Held on Friday, August 6, amid a raging third wave of COVID infections, Morocco’s professional elections culminated in a surprising outcome.
The National Rally of Independents (RNI) won 638 seats (28.61%) in the Professional Chambers elections, while the current ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (PJD), endured an excruciating loss, only securing 2.20% of seats.
According to the results announced by the polling stations and central offices for the Chambers of Agriculture, and the provisional results of the elections of the Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Services, Chambers of Crafts, and Chambers of Maritime Fisheries, the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) came in 2nd with 363 seats (16.28%), followed by the Istiqlal Party with 360 seats (16.14%).
Then followed the Popular Movement with 160 seats (7.17%), the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) with 146 seats (6.55%), the Constitutional Union with 90 seats (4.04%), the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) with 82 seats (3.68%) and the Justice and Development Party (PJD) with 49 seats (2.20%), noted Minister of Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, during a press conference.
All of the other bodies, 23 parties in total, gained 71 seats (3.18%), while candidates without political affiliation secured 271 seats (12.15%), Laftit noted.
The number of female candidates elected to professional chambers is at 171 candidates, a rate of 7.67%, he further stated.
The rate of participation in the elections of the Professional Chambers reached 47.24%, against 43% in 2015, announced the Minister of the Interior.
“These elections were marked by the participation of 882,736 voters, or 47.24% of the professional electorate, against 43% in 2015,″ the minister added.
Morocco’s professional chambers do not hold executive authority. Representatives for each sector act as consultants, influencing reforms within their respective sectors and advancing their interests through government consultations and lobbying.
Although the elections are open to all Moroccans, most political parties recommend their members for the position in order to expand their political influence in the country across various sectors.
Upon the announcement of their landslide victory in this weekend’s elections, the RNI described the results as “remarkable” in a statement. With general elections scheduled for September this year, the question now is whether the party will be able to replicate this victory when it matters most.
The outcomes of the professional elections brought about valuable data, whose interpretations ranged between indicators of an imminent RNI sweep in September,
while others maintain that this weekend’s results are very unlikely to impact the upcoming general elections.
Some observers have drawn comparisons with the 2015 electoral year, highlighting similar indicators that the National Rally of Independents may be overrun in the general round.
Most observers note that traditionally, the party that dominates the professional elections often loses influence in the general election.
In 2015, PAM secured double the professional seats of PJD, but the latter still won the general election by a landslide.
The top three parties in these professional elections, namely RNI, PAM, and Istiqlal party announced their presidential alliance for the professional chambers on Sunday.
The Istiqlal party will preside over the Chamber of Industry, Commerce and Services, the RNI will preside over the Chamber of Agriculture, and the PAM will take over the Chamber of Traditional Handicraft.
Since no party has even come close to or exceeded 50%, the parties need to form alliances to pass legislation through parliamentary opposition.
Such announcements often confuse the average elector, as parties are usually fiercely criticizing each others’ campaigns.
PJD’s fall from grace
Even before the weekend election, all political indicators pointed towards the fall of the PJD in the professional chambers elections.
PJD ranked lowest among the parties participating in the elections for the professional chambers; It won only 49 seats out of 2230 seats across the various professional chambers in Morocco.
It appears that the party’s image and popularity were greatly affected less than a month after the organization of the legislative and collective elections.
For their part, however, party members justify this severe defeat by the fact that their party does not have enough electoral credit to win such elections.
But for most political observers, the significant decline in the number of seats secured by the ruling party has many underlying messages, especially considering the fact that the PJD did not even retain the votes from 2015 but rather lost a considerable amount.
As the PJD has been guilty of weakening the electoral process by bringing in money and power, punitive votes have been cast against them.
The legislative elections are expected to reflect the same pattern of mistrust and disappointment Moroccans have associated with the Islamist party in power.
