Moroccan parties mobilise in markets and online for parliamentary elections

Political parties in Morocco use traditional and digital tactics to mobilise voters before the September 23 legislative election.

The PJD is campaigning on public services, jobs, purchasing power and political reform as it seeks to rebuild after its 2021 electoral collapse [Abdel Majid Bziouat/AFP]

Political parties in Morocco are intensifying campaign efforts before legislative elections on September 23, which will ultimately decide Morocco’s next government.

Twenty-seven political parties are competing for 395 seats in the House of Representatives and the vote comes at a crucial time for the country.

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Rising living costs, pressure on public services, and high youth unemployment – currently at 37.3 percent for Moroccans aged 15 to 24 – are all issues being hotly debated.

Party headquarters across Morocco and sites at packed city neighbourhoods and markets have been transformed into electioneering operation rooms. Campaign teams navigate crowded streets with loudspeakers, music, and leaflets to catch the attention of Morocco’s 15.8 million registered voters.

“We choose communication locations carefully; we start from a field map where we define the spaces where citizens meet naturally, then we divide the team according to tasks between direct communication and recording observations,” al-Wali al-Shtouki, campaign manager for the Justice and Development Party (PJD) in the Medina-Sidi Youssef Ben Ali district, told Al Jazeera.

“We also hold small meetings at the headquarters because they allow a calm and direct dialogue to understand what the citizen actually expects. What we hear in the field is what guides our daily work. After every tour or meeting, we collect observations and repeated questions and discuss them within the team, then we distinguish between local issues that need follow-up and those related to public policies and parliamentary work.”

Campaigners and supporters of the Istiqlal Party (PI) chant slogans during a rally at the weekly souk in the rural commune of Ait Ikkou, in the Khemisset region, on September 19, 2026, before Morocco’s legislative elections [AFP]

While physical headquarters serve as hubs for election campaigns, a party’s success ultimately relies on its roots within a community, Jawad al-Shafdi, head of the Moroccan Observatory for Political Participation, said.

“In the Moroccan case, the strength of the candidate, their local extension, their network of relationships, and their electoral record also play essential roles,” al-Shafdi told Al Jazeera.

“We may find a party with limited organisational presence in a specific district achieving a significant result thanks to a strong candidate, and vice versa. Winning votes is achieved through a more complex system that combines party organisation, candidate strength, local extension, networks of elected officials, direct and digital communication, in addition to the party’s image and political offering.

“Therefore, the true criterion is not the number of people who enter the headquarters, but its ability to convert organisational movement into electoral mobilisation, mobilisation into votes, and votes into seats.”

Digital, direct engagement

The competition has forced political groups to adopt multi-channel strategies that balance street-level outreach with digital campaigns to reach a broader audience.

Fatima al-Tamni, a candidate for the Left Alliance in the Ain Sebaa – Hay Mohammadi district in Casablanca, highlighted the necessity of direct engagement with voters rather than superficial campaign displays.

Campaigners for the Popular Movement (MP) hand out leaflets to merchants at the weekly souk in the rural commune of Ait Ikkou, in the Khemisset region, on September 19, 2026, before Morocco’s legislative elections [AFP]

She believes that party campaigns should serve as a space to listen to the concerns of the electorate and propose solutions, while building a strategic vision for transport, housing, pollution and other issues.

“We do not want to speak to the citizen from above, nor turn the campaign into a festival of pictures and slogans… We want to speak with them in clear language, and hear from them before we speak in their name,” she said. “[It] is not an end in itself, but the beginning of a new political relationship with citizens based on clarity, accountability, and fulfilling commitments.”

Youssef Ait Sidi Said, a political activist with the Progress and Socialism Party in the Chichaoua province, said campaigning remains an evolving process.

“For the party, this campaign is no longer just a specific period to introduce candidates and the electoral programme, but has become an opportunity for direct and continuous communication with the population and listening to their concerns and expectations,” Ait Sidi Said told Al Jazeera.

“Digital platforms allow reaching broad groups, especially youth, and grant them the possibility to interact, ask questions, and express their opinions. However, we do not consider that digitisation can replace direct communication. On the contrary, we see that each tool has its function.”

Ultimately, direct engagement with voters should remain the hallmark of party campaigns, he said.

“Field communication allows direct listening to the citizen, while digital platforms allow expanding the reach, interaction, and documenting activities,” Ait Sidi Said added.

在9月23日立法选举之前，摩洛哥各政党利用传统和数字策略动员选民。

正义与发展党（PJD）正以公共服务、就业、购买力和政治改革为竞选纲领，力图在2021年选举惨败后重建。[Abdel Majid Bziouat/AFP]

摩洛哥各政党正在加紧竞选活动，为9月23日举行的立法选举做准备，此次选举最终将决定摩洛哥的下一届政府。

27 个政党正在角逐众议院的 395 个席位，此次投票正值国家的关键时刻。

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摩洛哥正义与发展党 (PJD) 的 4 个问题之 4：该党在 2026 年大选前学到了什么？

生活成本上涨、公共服务压力增大以及青年失业率居高不下（目前摩洛哥 15 至 24 岁人群的失业率为 37.3%）都是人们热议的问题。

摩洛哥各地的政党总部以及人流密集的城市街区和市场都已改造成竞选活动中心。竞选团队穿梭在拥挤的街道上，用扩音器、音乐和传单吸引摩洛哥1580万登记选民的注意力。

“我们精心选择沟通地点；我们首先绘制一张实地地图，确定公民自然相遇的空间，然后根据任务将团队分成直接沟通和记录观察结果两类，”正义与发展党 (PJD) 麦地那-西迪·优素福·本·阿里区竞选经理瓦利·什图基告诉半岛电视台。

“我们也会在总部举行小型会议，因为这样可以进行冷静直接的对话，了解民众的真实期望。我们在基层听到的反馈指导着我们的日常工作。每次巡视或会议结束后，我们会收集意见和反复出现的问题，并在团队内部进行讨论，然后区分哪些是需要跟进的地方性问题，哪些是与公共政策和议会工作相关的问题。”

2026年9月19日，在摩洛哥立法选举前夕，独立党（Istiqlal Party，简称PI）的竞选者和支持者在凯米塞特地区艾特伊库农村公社的每周集市上举行集会，高喊口号。[法新社]

摩洛哥政治参与观察站负责人贾瓦德·沙夫迪表示，虽然实体总部是竞选活动的中心，但一个政党的成功最终取决于它在社区中的根基。

“在摩洛哥，候选人的实力、其在当地的影响力、其人脉网络以及其选举记录也发挥着至关重要的作用，”沙夫迪告诉半岛电视台。

“我们可能会发现，某个政党在特定地区组织实力有限，却凭借一位优秀的候选人取得了显著的成绩，反之亦然。赢得选票是通过一个更为复杂的系统实现的，该系统结合了政党组织、候选人实力、地方影响力、民选官员网络、直接和数字化沟通，以及政党的形象和政治主张。”

“因此，真正的标准不是进入总部的人数，而是它将组织运动转化为选举动员、将动员转化为选票、将选票转化为席位的能力。”

数字化、直接互动

竞争迫使各政治团体采取多渠道策略，将街头宣传与数字宣传相结合，以接触更广泛的受众。

卡萨布兰卡艾因塞巴-海穆罕默迪选区左翼联盟候选人法蒂玛·塔姆尼强调，必须与选民直接接触，而不是进行肤浅的竞选展示。

2026年9月19日，在摩洛哥立法选举前夕，人民运动（MP）的活动人士在赫米塞特地区艾特伊库农村公社的每周集市上向商贩分发传单。[法新社]

她认为，政党竞选活动应该成为一个倾听选民关切并提出解决方案的空间，同时为交通、住房、污染和其他问题制定战略愿景。

“我们不想居高临下地对民众发声，也不想把竞选变成一场充斥着图片和口号的盛宴……我们希望用清晰易懂的语言与他们对话，在代表他们发声之前，先倾听他们的心声，”她说道。“这本身并非目的，而是与民众建立一种基于清晰沟通、问责制和履行承诺的新型政治关系的开端。”

奇沙瓦省进步与社会主义党的政治活动家优素福·艾特·西迪·赛义德表示，竞选活动仍然是一个不断发展的过程。

“对于我们党来说，这次竞选活动不再仅仅是介绍候选人和竞选纲领的特定时期，而是成为了与民众进行直接和持续沟通，倾听他们的关切和期望的机会，”艾特·西迪·赛义德告诉半岛电视台。

“数字平台能够触及广泛的群体，尤其是年轻人，并让他们有机会互动、提问和表达意见。然而，我们并不认为数字化可以取代直接沟通。相反，我们认为每种工具都有其自身的功能。”

他表示，归根结底，与选民直接互动仍应是政党竞选的标志。

“实地沟通能够直接倾听公民的声音，而数字平台则能够扩大覆盖范围、互动和记录活动，”艾特·西迪·赛义德补充道。