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Join on Telegram Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, has highlighted the massive participation of Sahrawis in the country’s latest general elections and argued that the high turnout was an indication of their attachment to Morocco and its territorial integrity.
In a speech during the “High Level Debate” of the ongoing 76th United Nations General Assembly, the Moroccan FM said that high electoral participation rates in the southern provinces constituted a vindication of a shared commitment – Morocco’s showing of its commitment to the region with massive development projects and locals’ commitment to the country’s territorial integrity.
During the general elections held on September 8, the southern provinces of Morocco recorded the highest rate at the national level with a turnout of 63% – far above the national turnout of 50.18%.
The notably high participation “undeniably reflects the will of the population of the southern provinces to engage fully and effectively” in the implementation of the sustainable development project launched by HM King Mohammed VI in 2015,” Bourita said.
He said that the voting operation in the “Moroccan Sahara, like that of the other regions of Morocco, took place in a climate of mobilization and in accordance with international democratic standards.”
For the Moroccan FM, the popular enthusiasm that marked this year’s general elections in Morocco’s southern provinces confirms that the populations in the region “live in peace and serenity and participate fully in the socio-economic development of the region, as well as in political life.”
Bourita also renewed Morocco’s continued commitment to the UN-led political process to find an agreed upon and mutually acceptable solution to the Western Sahara conflict.
He emphasized that the autonomy initiative presented by Morocco in 2007 remains “the only way towards a political and final solution to this artificial regional dispute.”
Bourita also expressed Morocco’s concern about the “tragic humanitarian situation in the Tindouf camps, where the host country, Algeria, ceded its responsibilities to an armed separatist group, in flagrant violation of the principles of international humanitarian law.”
