Casablanca – Moroccans are headed to polling stations today to elect the 395 members of the House of Representatives, with more than 15.8 million registered voters eligible to take part in the country’s 2026 legislative elections.
Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. and will remain open until 7 p.m. Voting is taking place across around 40,700 polling stations nationwide.
Official figures put the number of registered voters at 15,801,162. Men account for 54% of the electorate and women 46%, while 55% of voters live in urban areas and 45% in rural areas.
Voters will choose among 1,850 candidate lists covering local and regional constituencies. They include 7,288 candidates, an average of more than 18 for each seat. Women account for 2,658 of the candidates, while 227 sitting MPs are seeking another term.
The House has 305 seats elected through local constituencies and another 90 through regional constituencies reserved exclusively for women. Morocco uses direct universal suffrage through a list system based on proportional representation and the largest remainder method.
The vote follows a campaign that ran from September 10 through September 22. Parties focused their programs on issues including purchasing power, employment, social protection, healthcare, education, water, local development and investment.
More than 3,000 accredited national observers are monitoring the election across Morocco’s 12 regions. Nearly 200 observers representing international and regional organizations and diplomatic bodies are also taking part. Representatives of candidate lists can monitor voting and counting and obtain copies of official polling records.
Once polling stations close, officials will begin counting ballots. Initial results are due from Thursday, September 24.
The results will determine the composition of the new House and set the stage for negotiations over the next governing majority. Under Article 47 of Morocco’s Constitution, King Mohammed VI appoints the Head of Government from the political party that comes first in the House elections.
In 2021, the National Rally of Independents won 102 seats, followed by the Authenticity and Modernity Party with 86 and the Istiqlal Party with 81. The three parties later formed the governing coalition headed by Aziz Akhannouch.
This year’s vote only concerns the House of Representatives, unlike the 2021 elections, when Moroccans voted in legislative, regional and municipal elections on the same day.
