In late September, Morocco held parliamentary elections that produced a familiar paradox: a clear winner without a mandate to govern alone. The monarchy-aligned PAM party claimed the most seats in the House of Representatives, yet fell well short of a majority, leaving the country's political future to be shaped through coalition bargaining. The vote arrived at a consequential moment — with World Cup preparations demanding bold governance and a disengaged public signaling, through historically low turnout, that the political system has yet to answer their most pressing concerns.
Morocco's PAM wins most seats but needs coalition as voter turnout hits 20-year low
Only 38 percent voted—a nation stepping back from its own politics
Mark
So PAM won the most seats but can't govern alone. How does that actually work in Morocco?
Mimi
The king appoints the prime minister from the party that won the most seats, but that person has to assemble a coalition that can pass legislation. PAM has 97 seats and needs 198, so they're looking at partners like Istiqlal to make up the difference.
Luke
Right, but the real question is whether those partners will actually hold together. The PJD won't join them—there's too much history there. So PAM is cobbling together a majority from parties that may not have much in common.
Mark
What explains the really low turnout? That seems like the bigger story.
Mimi
People are frustrated. Youth protests last year about jobs and education, then the migration crisis in July when people died trying to reach Spain. There's a sense that the government isn't delivering on what matters to ordinary Moroccans.
Luke
Though we should be careful here—38 percent is low, but it's not unprecedented. It's the second-lowest since 1999. The 2007 election was worse. So this is part of a pattern, not entirely new.
Mark
What happens next for PAM?
Mimi
They have to form a government and then oversee billions in World Cup spending. Morocco is cohosting in 2030 with Spain and Portugal. That's a massive undertaking.
Luke
And they have to do it while addressing the underlying grievances that kept people home. That's the harder part—the World Cup is a concrete project, but restoring faith in the political system is much messier.
Mark
Could a woman become prime minister?
Mimi
Possibly. Fatima Ezzahra Mansouri is one of the names being discussed. She's the mayor of Marrakech and a minister. If she's chosen, she'd be Morocco's first female prime minister.
Luke
That would be significant symbolically, but it doesn't automatically solve the coalition-building problem or the turnout problem. It's one piece of a much larger puzzle.
The Pulse
- PAM won 97 of 395 seats — enough to lead, not enough to govern, forcing the party into coalition negotiations before it can claim any real power.
- Only 38% of registered voters turned out, the second-lowest figure since 1999, a quiet but damning verdict on a political class seen as unresponsive to youth unemployment, failing healthcare, and inadequate education.
- The surprise recovery of the Islamist PJD — quadrupling its seats to 54 — complicates the coalition map, as the party declared it would sit in opposition rather than partner with its longtime rival.
- PAM must now court Istiqlal and other partners to assemble a working majority, while the king prepares to appoint a prime minister — possibly Fatima Ezzahra Mansouri, who would be Morocco's first woman to hold that office.
- The incoming coalition will immediately inherit stewardship of billions in World Cup infrastructure spending, governing under pressure to deliver results to a public that is watching — and largely no longer showing up to vote.
In late September, Morocco held parliamentary elections that produced a familiar paradox: a clear winner without a mandate to govern alone. The monarchy-aligned PAM party claimed the most seats in the House of Representatives, yet fell well short of a majority, leaving the country's political future to be shaped through coalition bargaining. The vote arrived at a consequential moment — with World Cup preparations demanding bold governance and a disengaged public signaling, through historically low turnout, that the political system has yet to answer their most pressing concerns.
Morocco's parliamentary elections in late September produced a winner without a clear path to power. The Authenticity and Modernity Party, PAM, claimed 97 of 395 seats in the House of Representatives — the most of any party — but fell 101 seats short of the majority needed to govern alone. The weeks ahead will be defined by negotiation.
PAM has served as the monarchy's preferred political vehicle since its founding in 2008, conceived in part as a counterweight to the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party. The PJD, which had collapsed to just 13 seats in the previous election, staged a notable comeback this time, quadrupling its representation to 54 seats. Despite the improved numbers, the PJD announced it would move into opposition, ruling out any alliance with PAM. The most workable coalition path runs through Istiqlal, which finished third, though the arithmetic remains tight and the negotiations delicate.
Under Morocco's constitution, King Mohammed VI will appoint a prime minister from the leading party. Two names have emerged as frontrunners: Fouzi Lekjaa, who heads the national football federation and serves as budget minister, and Fatima Ezzahra Mansouri, mayor of Marrakech and minister of urban planning. Should Mansouri be chosen, she would make history as Morocco's first female prime minister.
Yet the election's most telling story may be the silence of those who stayed home. Turnout fell to just 38 percent — the second-lowest since King Mohammed VI took the throne in 1999. The decline reflects deep frustration: youth-led protests over jobs and public services, deadly migration attempts toward Spain's enclave of Ceuta, and a persistent sense that government has not kept pace with ordinary needs.
The coalition that emerges will face immediate demands. Morocco is co-hosting the 2030 World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, a project requiring enormous investment and coordination. Governing well through that process — while rebuilding trust with a public that has largely stopped participating — may prove the harder task.
Morocco held parliamentary elections on a Friday in late September, and when the Ministry of Interior announced the final results, the country's political landscape had shifted in ways both dramatic and muted. The Authenticity and Modernity Party, known as PAM, emerged as the largest single force in the House of Representatives, claiming 97 of the 395 seats. It was a win, but not a decisive one. The party fell 101 seats short of the 198 needed to govern alone, which meant that whatever government took shape in the coming weeks would have to be built through negotiation and compromise.
PAM has been the monarchy's preferred political vehicle since its founding in 2008 by Fouad Ali El Himma, a confidant of King Mohammed VI. The party was designed partly as a counterbalance to the Justice and Development Party, a moderate Islamist group that had dominated Moroccan politics for a decade before collapsing to just 13 seats in the previous election. This time, the PJD staged an unexpected recovery, quadrupling its representation to 54 seats. The two parties have long been rivals, and a coalition between them appears unlikely. The PJD announced it would sit in opposition, leaving PAM to look elsewhere for partners.
The most obvious coalition partner is the Istiqlal party, which finished third. PAM's previous senior coalition ally, the National Rally of Independents, lost significant ground, dropping from 102 seats to 66. The arithmetic is workable but not comfortable, and the negotiations ahead will require careful management. Under Morocco's constitution, King Mohammed VI will appoint a prime minister from whichever party won the most seats, so PAM will lead the government formation process. Two names circulate as potential candidates: Fouzi Lekjaa, who heads Morocco's football federation and serves as budget minister, and Fatima Ezzahra Mansouri, the mayor of Marrakech and minister of national planning, urban planning, housing and urban policy. If Mansouri is chosen, she would become Morocco's first female prime minister.
What stands out most sharply about this election, however, is not who won but how few people voted. Only 38 percent of Morocco's 15.8 million registered voters cast ballots. This is the second-lowest turnout since King Mohammed VI took the throne in 1999, surpassed only by a 37 percent turnout in 2007. It represents a sharp decline from the roughly 51 percent who voted in 2021. Analysts point to widespread disengagement rooted in concrete grievances: youth-led protests last year over jobs, healthcare, and education; deadly mass migration attempts in July when migrants tried to reach Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta. The election, in other words, took place against a backdrop of public frustration with the state of the economy and the government's responsiveness to ordinary concerns.
The incoming government will face immediate pressures. Morocco is preparing to cohost the 2030 World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, a tournament that will require billions of dollars in investment and infrastructure development. The new coalition will oversee that spending and those projects. At the same time, it will inherit the discontent that kept so many voters home. The challenge is not simply to build a working majority in parliament, but to govern in a way that might restore public confidence in the political process itself.
Notable Quotes
The PJD has said it will remain in opposition— Justice and Development Party
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