Morocco’s political parties battle youth disenchantment ahead of election

By Ahmed Eljechtimi and Alexander Dziadosz RABAT/CAIRO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Morocco’s political parties are trying to entice young voters to the polls next week with promises of jobs and affordable

By Ahmed Eljechtimi and Alexander Dziadosz

RABAT/CAIRO, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Morocco’s political parties are trying to entice young voters to the polls next week with promises of jobs and affordable housing after violent protests last year and a border rush on the Spanish enclave of Ceuta highlighted widespread discontent.

Uneven development and continuing economic hardship among young people were seen as drivers of both events, against a backdrop of recent progress in sectors such as manufacturing, ports and railways lifting living standards in major cities.

The vote, due on September 23, is the country’s fourth since the 2011 Arab Spring protests led the monarchy to share more power with parliament before moving to reinforce its position.

A moderate Islamist party ran the government for about a decade but suffered a crushing defeat in the last vote five years ago, ceding its place to two parties founded by men close to the palace.

Those parties, the National Rally of Independents (RNI) and the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), have both put youth employment at the centre of their campaigns, pledging to create about one million jobs over the next parliamentary term.

They have also touted roughly $20 billion of infrastructure investment ahead of the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal, and streamed rallies on social media to draw the attention of young voters.

“We reject the idea that young people simply want an easy life,” the PAM’s campaign manifesto says, listing housing, regular income and “dignified work” as policy priorities.

Analysts say the challenge of engaging young voters was illustrated by deadly, Gen-Z-led protests last year, and by the massive border rush on Ceuta in July.

“The Ceuta mass migration attempt was a new form of social protest in which many citizens demonstrated a physical exit from Moroccan politics altogether,” said Mohamed Masbah, head of the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis, a think tank.

YOUNG VOTERS ‘NO LONGER BELIEVE’ PROMISES

While 18- to 24-year-olds make up some 12% of the population, they account for only about 3% of registered voters, official figures show.

Just one third of Moroccans between 18 and 35 years old say they trust parliament, the prime minister or political parties, according to a survey published in March by Afrobarometer, a research nonprofit.

Young voters say they have been discouraged by an impression that elections shift the balance between parties with little ideological space between them without producing major policy changes.

“We keep seeing the same faces return with promises that many young voters no longer believe,” said university student Mohamed Azzaoui, who said he does not intend to vote.

Under Morocco’s system, the monarchy retains control of the country’s overarching policy direction. In recent years the palace has also consolidated power over key portfolios, including the foreign and interior ministries.

That means parties are competing less over the overall development model, and more over how to achieve the palace’s objectives, according to economist Rachid Aourraz.

In practice, Masbah said, that means that “if everything goes well, the monarchy takes credit. If things go wrong, the government gets the blame.”

In recent years, authorities have leant heavily on their economic strategy. Already one of Africa’s most diversified and industrialised economies, Morocco’s growth targets are ambitious.

The country’s “New Development Model”, a national economic plan launched about five years ago, aims to double gross domestic product per capita by 2035. The country has seen billions pour into sectors such as deepwater ports, phosphates, green energy and rail lines.

But this has often not translated into popular satisfaction.

Youth unemployment is around 27% — the highest rate of any age group — and one in three young Moroccans is neither working, studying nor training, according to official statistics.

As the country’s central bank wrote in a recent report, stubborn unemployment and other factors have opened “a gap … between objectively measured economic performance and citizens’ perceptions.”

(Reporting by Ahmed El Jechtimi in Rabat and Alexander Dziadosz in Cairo; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

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