Morocco 2026: What Really Happened at the Ballot Box?

A new parliament, a dramatic PJD comeback, falling turnout — and an election-day controversy in Tangier

Morocco has voted.

But the real story of the 2026 legislative election is not simply who won the most seats.

It is what happened around the ballot box.

The Authenticity and Modernity Party emerged as the largest parliamentary force. The Justice and Development Party, which collapsed spectacularly in 2021, came back with a significantly stronger presence. The National Rally of Independents lost its position as the dominant party.

And yet, beneath the political reshuffle was a harder reality: only 38.08% of registered voters participated.

Then came Tangier.

On election day, images and videos circulated showing what appeared to be ballot papers at a polling station in the Casabarata district. The incident triggered protests, political accusations and, eventually, a judicial investigation.

So what actually happened in Morocco’s 2026 election?

The answer is more complicated than either the official celebration of a calm election or the claims circulating online about widespread manipulation.

1. The Numbers Changed the Political Map

The preliminary results announced by Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit produced a significantly different parliament.

PAM emerged first with 97 seats.

The RNI, which had won 102 seats in 2021, fell to 66.

Istiqlal secured 65.

And the PJD — reduced to only 13 seats in 2021 — returned with 54 seats.

The other parties completed a highly fragmented parliament, including the Popular Movement with 29 seats, USFP with 26, PPS with 19 and the Constitutional Union with 17.

PAM’s result makes it the largest parliamentary force, but 97 seats are far from the 198 needed for an outright majority in the 395-seat House of Representatives.

In other words, the numbers do not produce a government by themselves.

They produce negotiations.

Coalitions.

And political bargaining.

The PJD’s return is particularly striking when viewed against its recent history. The party won 125 seats in 2016, fell dramatically to 13 in 2021, and has now returned with 54.

That is a political comeback — but not a restoration of its former dominance.

2. The Biggest Number May Be 38.08%

Forget the winning party for a moment.

Look at the voters.

Only 38.08% of registered voters participated in the 2026 legislative election.

In 2021, participation stood at 50.86%.

In 2016, it was 42.27%.

The decline is therefore not a minor statistical detail. It is one of the defining facts of this election.

Approximately 15.8 million people were registered, meaning millions of registered citizens did not participate.

And that raises a question that no parliamentary seat count can answer:

Why are so many citizens staying away from the political process?

There is no single explanation.

Abstention can reflect distrust in political parties, dissatisfaction with government performance, lack of interest, practical barriers, or the belief that elections will not significantly change people’s lives.

But whatever the individual reasons, the result is clear:

The parliament has been reshaped by a minority of registered voters.

3. The Youth Problem

The numbers become even more interesting when age is considered.

Official electoral data showed that voters aged 18–24 represented approximately 4% of registered voters.

That figure has sometimes been misinterpreted online as meaning that only 4% of young Moroccans voted.

That is not what the number means.

It means that young people aged 18–24 represented around 4% of the registered electorate.

The demographic imbalance is nevertheless striking.

People aged 60 and above represented around 29% of registered voters, while those aged 25–34 represented approximately 15%.

At the same time, young Moroccans face some of the country’s most difficult economic pressures.

Youth unemployment remains particularly high, while concerns about education, housing, healthcare, wages and the cost of living continue to shape public debate.

This creates a political contradiction.

Morocco is investing in infrastructure, attracting investment and preparing for major international events.

But many young people are asking a much simpler question:

Where is my place in that future?

4. Then Tangier Happened

If low turnout was the election’s biggest structural story, Tangier became its most visible controversy.

On 23 September, election day, events at the Al-Quds School in the Casabarata district of Tangier-Asiaila rapidly spread across social media.

Images and videos circulated showing what appeared to be ballot papers inside or around a polling station.

The controversy escalated quickly.

The Public Prosecutor at the Tangier Court of Appeal ordered a judicial investigation to establish what had happened and determine any legal consequences.

According to reporting by Hespress on 24 September, three people had been detained in connection with the case at that stage of the investigation.

One individual was reportedly still under police custody, while authorities continued questioning two others.

But here is where the story requires caution.

The existence of ballot papers, a video or a detention does not automatically prove an organized electoral fraud operation.

The investigation had not yet publicly established who was responsible, why the material was present, whether it was connected to a coordinated operation, or whether the incident affected the final result.

Those are questions for the investigation and, ultimately, the courts.

5. PAM Rejects the Allegations

The controversy immediately became political.

The leadership of the Authenticity and Modernity Party rejected what it described as an attempt to associate the party with the incident without evidence.

Abdelatif Ghalbzouri, who headed the PAM list in Tangier-Asiaila and whose list finished third in the constituency, denied any connection between the party and the detained individual.

According to Hespress, his presence at Tangier’s security headquarters concerned a complaint over what he regarded as defamatory claims against the party, rather than a summons indicating that he was being investigated in the ballot-paper case.

That distinction matters.

There is a major difference between:

being mentioned in political accusations,

and

being formally implicated in a judicial investigation.

At the time of reporting, those should not be treated as the same thing.

6. What Does Tangier Actually Prove?

At this stage, very little about the national election.

It proves that an incident occurred serious enough to trigger a judicial investigation.

It proves that ballot-related material became the subject of a public controversy.

It proves that political accusations followed.

It does not yet prove that Morocco’s national election was rigged.

That distinction is essential.

An election can contain individual violations, administrative failures or even criminal acts without those incidents demonstrating that the national result was deliberately manufactured.

The question is therefore not simply:

“Was there fraud?”

The more useful questions are:

Who was responsible?

What exactly happened?

Was the incident isolated or coordinated?

Was the law violated?

And did it have any measurable impact on the result?

Those questions remain open in the Tangier case.

7. The Election Was Not Flawless

Tangier was not the only issue.

Morocco had an extensive electoral observation operation involving more than 3,000 accredited observers, including members of the National Human Rights Council, Moroccan civil-society organizations and international observers.

But observation did not mean perfection.

Election-monitoring organizations reported several irregularities, including cases in which observers encountered difficulties accessing polling stations.

One monitoring network reported 40 cases in which its observers were prevented from entering polling stations, alongside suspected cases involving voter influence, alleged vote-buying and the use of public resources.

These figures should be described accurately.

They are reported observations or suspected violations, not judicially proven cases of fraud.

That distinction protects the credibility of the reporting.

The point is not to declare the election fraudulent.

The point is to acknowledge that the process was not flawless.

8. The Observer Question

One of the most important principles of electoral transparency is simple:

Observers need access.

The CNDH deployed hundreds of its own observers and coordinated a much broader observation effort.

Yet difficulties surrounding access to certain electoral operations were reported.

When accredited observers cannot freely observe a stage of the electoral process, suspicion naturally follows.

That does not automatically prove manipulation.

But it creates a transparency problem.

And transparency matters because public confidence depends not only on the final numbers, but also on people’s ability to understand how those numbers were produced.

9. The Bigger Criticism Is Structural

Then comes the argument that goes beyond individual incidents.

Some critics of Morocco’s electoral system argue that the system itself makes dramatic political change difficult.

The House of Representatives has 395 seats, distributed through a proportional electoral system using party lists and the largest-remainder method.

The result is a fragmented parliament in which a single party is unlikely to obtain an outright majority.

That means coalition-building is built into the political process.

But this should not be confused with electoral fraud.

An electoral system can produce fragmentation without anyone manipulating ballots.

The debate is therefore not simply about whether votes were counted correctly.

It is also about what those votes can realistically change once they become parliamentary seats.

10. The Monarchy and the Limits of Parliamentary Power

Morocco’s political system is another essential part of the story.

The country is a constitutional monarchy.

Parliament has significant legislative responsibilities, while the government exercises executive functions.

At the same time, the Constitution gives the King substantial powers in strategic areas of state policy.

That matters particularly when discussing foreign affairs.

A change in parliamentary composition does not automatically mean a fundamental change in Morocco’s foreign-policy direction.

This is particularly relevant to one of the most politically sensitive subjects of the campaign:

Morocco’s relationship with Israel.

11. The Israel Question

Morocco restored diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 within the framework of the Abraham Accords.

Since then, the relationship has remained controversial inside Moroccan politics, particularly following the war in Gaza.

The PJD made opposition to normalization a prominent part of its political messaging.

That issue gave the party an opportunity to reconnect with voters who strongly oppose the relationship.

But it would be too simplistic to say:

“The PJD came back because of Israel.”

There is no basis for reducing the party’s electoral recovery to one issue.

Economic concerns, government performance, public services, employment and broader dissatisfaction with established parties were also part of the political environment.

The Israel question was one part of a much larger election.

12. Was the Election Rigged?

This is where the conversation needs precision.

There were reported irregularities.

There was a judicial investigation in Tangier.

There were reported difficulties involving observers.

There were allegations concerning voter influence and suspected vote-buying.

There were political accusations.

All of that is documented.

But these facts should not automatically be transformed into a claim that the national election was systematically rigged.

The available reporting at this stage does not establish that the documented incidents formed a coordinated nationwide operation designed to manufacture the parliamentary result.

The more accurate description is therefore more uncomfortable — and more interesting:

Morocco’s 2026 election was not flawless, but the documented irregularities are not, by themselves, proof of systematic national electoral manipulation.

That distinction is crucial.

Because democracy is not only about whether ballots are counted.

It is also about whether citizens trust the process.

13. The Real Problem May Be Trust

Perhaps the most important story of this election is not PAM’s 97 seats.

It is not even the PJD’s comeback.

It may be the gap between politics and public confidence.

When fewer than four out of ten registered voters participate, political parties face a problem that cannot be solved through coalition mathematics.

They have to convince people that voting matters.

They have to show that parliament can influence the issues people care about.

They have to address economic frustration.

And they have to respond convincingly when electoral controversies emerge.

The Tangier case makes that challenge even clearer.

A video appears.

Social media explodes.

Political accusations follow.

A judicial investigation begins.

And millions of people watch, waiting for an answer.

That is the modern electoral environment: trust can be damaged in hours, while restoring it can take years.

14. What Comes Next?

The 2026 election has produced a new parliamentary configuration, but the hardest part begins after the ballots are counted.

The next government will face pressure on employment, healthcare, education, housing and the cost of living.

It will also operate in a country preparing for major international milestones, including the 2030 FIFA World Cup, while continuing large infrastructure and investment projects.

The political challenge is therefore twofold.

Morocco wants to project itself as a modern, ambitious and internationally connected country.

At the same time, its institutions must convince ordinary citizens that this transformation is improving their own lives.

That is especially important for younger generations.

Because an election can change the composition of parliament.

It cannot, by itself, rebuild political trust.

The Bottom Line

Morocco’s 2026 election produced a clear political shift.

PAM emerged with the largest parliamentary bloc.

RNI lost significant ground.

Istiqlal remained a major force.

The PJD made a dramatic comeback.

But another number may ultimately define the election:

38.08%.

That is the share of registered voters who participated.

And then there is Tangier — an unresolved case that has become a symbol of why electoral transparency matters.

The responsible conclusion is neither to declare the election perfectly clean nor to label the entire process fraudulent.

The evidence points to something more complicated.

There were documented problems and serious allegations. Some are being investigated. Some may ultimately lead to prosecutions or other legal consequences. Others may prove unfounded.

What matters now is what happens next.

Will investigations be completed transparently?

Will proven violations be punished?

Will political parties respond to the millions who stayed home?

And will the new parliament convince citizens that their vote still has meaning?

The ballot boxes are closed.

The bigger test — trust — has only just begun.