Africa · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
Morocco Opens Polling Stations For House Of Representatives Election With 15.8 Million Voters
Polling stations open across Morocco to elect 395 House of Representatives seats. About 15.8 million registered voters eligible to vote.
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Morocco votes Wednesday
Morocco opened polling stations across the country on Wednesday morning as voters began casting ballots to elect members of the House of Representatives. Voting began at 8 am (0800GMT) and was set to close at 7 pm (1900GMT) local time, and the registered electorate stood at 15.8 million. The House of Representatives election is the twelfth since independence and 27 parties compete for 395 seats, with 15,801,162 registered voters.
The official timetable expects preliminary results to begin being announced from Thursday, September 24, after voting and vote counting. The elections are the 12th parliamentary polls since independence and the sixth since King Mohammed VI took the throne in 1999.
Candidates, seats, and oversight
Morocco’s electoral race set the House of Representatives at 395 seats, with 28 political formations competing and 7,288 candidacies registered nationwide, according to Anadolu Ajansı. 27 parties compete for 395 seats and 15,801,162 voters are registered, while the electorate is 54% men and 46% women. The Ministry of the Interior deployed operational arrangements to serve the 15,801,162 registered voters and nearly 41,000 polling stations opened nationwide.
The Special Commission for the Accreditation of Election Observers, operating under the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), certified 26 domestic associations and 30 international organisations. The Public Prosecution in Morocco recorded a decline in complaints related to the 2026 legislative elections, with 93 complaints from August 21 to September 15, 2026.
King, government, and stakes
The prime minister is appointed by the king from the party that wins the most seats, and the monarch retains control of major policy decisions. Mohamed VI controls the “African regime” and makes the final decision on all重大 matters, even more so if it involves foreign policy. Moroccans living abroad, about 6 million across more than 100 countries, will vote through a proxy in Morocco, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad launched the electronic proxy platform (E-Procuration).
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. The number of female candidates reached 2,658 women, representing about 36.5% of all candidates, and 1,783 women were among 235 slates in departmental districts reserved exclusively for women.