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Denver – As Moroccans gear up for the first nationwide general election in five years, authorities have released guidelines ahead of the monumental event to clarify the process for voters.
The Ministry of Interior stated Tuesday that voting in the country will be conducted “exclusively on the basis of the National Identity Card (CIN).” Voters will need their CINs to verify their identity at the polls, and to ensure the fairness of the electoral process.
The Ministry also assured that any citizen currently in the process of renewing their CIN card could also vote “by presenting the receipt issued by the General Directorate of National Security.”
Morocco’s upcoming elections, scheduled for Wednesday, September 8, will be the third general election since the constitutional reforms of 2011. In this context, the country’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) released statistics on voter demographics throughout the country.
According to the HCP, over 3 million new voters are slated to participate in Wednesday’s voting, meaning a staggering 11.9% of Morocco’s voting-age population will be participating in the electoral process for the first time.
Among the new voters, 1.47 million are women, and 1.79 individuals reside in urban centers. These figures constitute 49.1% and 59.7% of the new voter population respectively, said the HCP study.
The Casablanca-Settat region is home to 19.1% of the new voters, followed by Marrakech-Safi with 13.6%, Rabat-Sale-Kenitra with 13.1%, and Fes-Meknes with 12.2%. The majority of new voters, 55.1%, possess at least a secondary education, 24.5% have higher-level education, 16.2% have a primary education, and 3.5% have no formal education.
Currently, unemployed Moroccans will represent a significant portion of the first-time voting population, with 35.4% of women and 28.5% of men falling into the category. The total voting population in Morocco for the 2021 election will be 25.22 million individuals, an increase of over two million from the 2016 election.
As Moroccans head to the polls Wednesday morning, incumbent Prime Minister El Othmani and the ruling Justice and Development Party will mainly face off the National Rally of Independents Party and the Authenticity and Modernity Party in a bid to control Morocco’s legislative body.
