Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit highlighted high voter turnout in Morocco’s southern provinces, with participation reaching 77% in Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra, 53.48% in Guelmim-Oued Noun, and 61% in Dakhla-Oued Eddahab.
Laftit announced the preliminary data in a press conference at 3:30 a.m. Commenting on the voter turnout in Morocco’s southern provinces, Laftit said the result reflects the population’s attachment to the southern provinces and Morocco’s territorial integrity.
The minister announced that the turnout rate across Morocco reached 38%, emphasizing that the elections went normally, except for some incidents at polling stations.
The preliminary data show that the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has taken the lead in the legislative elections with 97 seats, followed by the National Rally of Independents (RNI) with 66 seats, the Istiqlal Party with 65 seats, and the Justice and Development Party (PJD) with 54 seats.
Since Wednesday afternoon, many expected the PJD to create a surprise and lead the electoral process, as its leaders have been emphasizing that they had taken the lead in many important regions.
However, surprisingly, RNI came second, challenging expectations that the party might not even make it into the top three in these legislative elections, amid dissatisfaction with its performance in the Akhannouch government, as well as complaints over continued hikes in commodity prices, increased fuel costs, and more.
It remains to be seen whether new data will add more seats and change the current ranking. But the results are already a significant improvement for the PJD, which secured only 13 seats in the 2021 elections. The question, however, is whether Benkirane, the party leader, will see the results as positive or whether he expected more.
