Morocco heads to polls, but king and football hold sway over political future – The Irish Times

Moroccans go to the polls on Sunday in a closely fought election that could see a change of government. But the king will still call the shots.

Will Morocco put football first?

Sunday’s general election in Morocco comes a year after the GenZ 212 youth protests, the biggest demonstrations the country has seen since the Arab Spring in 2011 and two months after tens of thousands crossed the border into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in a single day.

But despite robust economic growth and low inflation, the conditions that drove the protests and impel so many young Moroccans to emigrate remain in place.

Morocco’s billionaire prime minister, Aziz Akkhanouch, has stepped down as leader of the centre-right, liberal National Rally of Independents (RNI) so the country will have a new prime minister regardless of the election’s outcome. The RNI shares power with the centre-right Istiqlal and the liberal Authenticity and Modernity party (PAM), one or both of which have been part of every government for the past 20 years.

Istaqlal and the PAM are both close to the monarchy, an important factor in a country where king Mohammed VI remains the ultimate authority on foreign policy, national security and religious affairs. Although reforms introduced after the Arab Spring protests were meant to limit the power of the monarchy, the king and his advisers still exercise great influence over the executive branch.

The king’s sway is such that when Morocco signed up to the Abraham Accords to normalise relations with Israel in 2020, its government was led by the Justice and Development Party (PJD). The PJD, which won power in 2011 but lost most of its seats in parliament 10 years later, is an Islamist party that expressed support for Iran last year and regularly invited delegations from Hamas to its annual conference.

The GenZ 212 movement, which took its name from Morocco’s country code, mobilised last year’s demonstrations after eight women died within a few days following Caesarean sections at a hospital in Agadir. The protests highlighted the contrast between the government’s lavish spending on grand infrastructure projects and the 2030 World Cup and the underfunding of public services.

After a crackdown that saw three protesters killed by police and almost 2,500 prosecuted, of whom 600 remain in prison, the king told the government to increase spending on health and education by 16 per cent. The authorities also agreed to create nearly 30,000 new jobs in health and education and to renovate 90 hospitals.

Inflation fell from an average of 6 per cent in 2023 to less than 1 per cent last year, although it has been ticking upwards this year, and the economy grew by 4.6 per cent in 2025. A wave of Chinese investment has seen Morocco become an important manufacturer in the electric vehicle sector, with a $5.6 billion battery gigafactory due to open north of Rabat next month.

Youth unemployment remains high nonetheless, especially among university graduates, and a World Bank report last month found that 43 per cent of Moroccans between 25 and 34 were working in jobs that were low-skilled compared to their education level. An Arab Barometer survey in 2024 found that 55 per cent of Moroccans between 18 and 29 and 35 per cent of the entire population said they would like to emigrate.

Among those tipped to become the next prime minister is the current budget minister, Fouzi Lekjaa, who has been president of the Royal Football Federation since 2014. His appointment would confirm to many young Moroccans that their interests and ambitions must take second place to the government’s focus on the 2030 World Cup as a national showcase.

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