Morocco's official election campaign kicked off on Thursday, with 27 political parties competing for 395 seats in the House of Representatives ahead of a nationwide vote later this month.
The campaign, which began on 10 September, will run until midnight on 22 September, with Moroccans heading to the polls the following day to elect members of the lower house of parliament.
The election comes five years after the 2021 vote dramatically reshaped Morocco's political landscape, propelling the National Rally of Independents (RNI) into first place and dealing a crushing defeat to the Justice and Development Party (PJD), which had led the government for a decade.
The RNI went on to form a governing coalition with the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) and the Istiqlal Party.
Those three parties are once again among the major forces competing in the election, alongside the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), the Popular Movement, the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS), the Constitutional Union and the PJD.
The campaign is expected to focus heavily on domestic concerns, including employment, education, healthcare and purchasing power, as parties seek to win over voters amid economic and social pressures.
Authorities have introduced regulations governing campaigning, including rules on electoral spending, advertising, the use of public spaces and equal opportunities between candidates.
The 2026 election rules also address campaigning on social media and digital platforms, including the use of artificial intelligence and the dissemination of misleading or manipulated AI-generated content.
How does Morocco's election work?
Morocco has a bicameral parliament made up of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, but the September election concerns only the 395-seat House of Representatives.
Of those seats, 305 are contested through local electoral constituencies, while the remaining 90 are allocated through regional lists.
Under changes introduced for the 2026 election, the regional lists are exclusively made up of female candidates, strengthening women's representation in the lower house.
Moroccans do not directly elect their prime minister, officially known as the head of government.
Instead, voters elect members of parliament through a proportional representation system based on party lists.
A party would need 198 of the House's 395 seats to secure an outright majority, something that is difficult under Morocco's fragmented multi-party electoral system.
Under Article 47 of Morocco's constitution, King Mohammed VI appoints the head of government from the political party that finishes first in elections to the House of Representatives.
If the winning party falls short of the 198 seats needed for a majority, it must negotiate with other parties to form a governing coalition capable of securing parliamentary support.
The proposed government must then present its programme to parliament and win the confidence of an absolute majority of the House of Representatives, or at least 198 votes.
Following the 2021 election, the RNI emerged as the largest party with 102 seats and subsequently formed a coalition with PAM and Istiqlal.
Calls for election boycott
The election campaign has also been accompanied by calls for a boycott from Al-Adl wal-Ihsan, one of Morocco's largest Islamist movements.
The group has urged Moroccans not to participate in the election, arguing that the country's current electoral system does not provide the conditions necessary for genuine democracy, freedom and justice.
Al-Adl wal-Ihsan said elected institutions lack real political decision-making power and raised concerns about restrictions on political participation and what it views as an absence of genuinely free competition.
The movement stressed that its boycott did not amount to withdrawing from public life, but was instead a rejection of what it described as an ineffective political process.
It called for a new political horizon capable of bringing about meaningful democratic change in the country.