Elections: Morocco Public Broadcast Slots for Political Parties

Rabat – Morocco has allocated public broadcast airtime to political parties contesting the country’s legislative elections through an official draw held on Thursday, as authorities continue preparations for the September 23 vote.

The draw took place at the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication’s Department of Communication in the presence of representatives from the 27 participating political parties and Morocco’s public audiovisual media outlets, the ministry said in a statement.

Under the allocation system, parties have been divided into three categories based on their parliamentary representation.

The first group includes parties that currently hold a parliamentary group in either chamber of Parliament, or have enough lawmakers to form one. These parties will receive a total of 21 minutes of airtime, divided into three seven-minute broadcasts.

The second group, comprising parties represented in Parliament but without an official parliamentary group, will receive 15 minutes of airtime through three five-minute broadcasts.

Parties that are not represented in Parliament make up the third group and will be allocated nine minutes of airtime, split into three three-minute broadcasts.

In addition to campaign broadcasts, parliamentary parties will appear as guests in televised news bulletins. Parties in the first group will be given five-minute interview segments, while those in the second group will receive three minutes.

Public broadcasters will also cover one campaign rally for each participating party. Coverage will last three minutes for first-group parties, two and a half minutes for second-group parties, and two minutes for parties without parliamentary representation.

According to the ministry, the scheduling was carried out in line with Morocco’s regulations governing the use of public audiovisual media during election campaigns. The system is designed to ensure that parties receive exposure across the main daily viewing periods—morning, midday, and evening—throughout the campaign while preventing simultaneous broadcasts of the same party on multiple public media platforms.

Following the allocation process, an official draw assigned each political party a numerical order that will determine the scheduling and placement of its campaign broadcasts.

The media allocation comes as Moroccan authorities intensify preparations for the legislative elections. Earlier this month, the Ministry of the Interior unveiled an extensive logistical plan for the September 23 vote, announcing the deployment of 40,700 polling stations and 3,750 central counting offices across the country.

The ministry also said around 350,000 personnel will oversee the electoral process, including 178,000 polling station officials and their deputies, alongside enhanced technological measures aimed at ensuring the transparency and efficiency of the vote.