38,02 %: Morocco voted as it had not voted since 2007
Mateo Fernández — Buenos Aires, Argentine — 2026-09-26
Morocco's Interior Ministry published the figure on the evening of 23 September 2026: turnout in the legislative elections reached 38,02 %. Abstention therefore stands at 61,98 %.
This is not one poor result among others. It is the worst since 2007 — and one of the highest abstention rates since Mohammed VI acceded to the throne.
The day, hour by hour
The Interior Ministry publishes turnout as the day unfolds. Here is the curve:
[[BAR]]
Turnout in the Moroccan legislative elections of 23 September 2026 (Ministry of the Interior)
10h00 | 4,23 | %
12h00 | 11,34 | %
15h00 | 21 | %
17h00 | 28,05 | %
!Polls close (19h00) | 38,02 | %
[[/BAR]]
At 5 p.m., turnout stood at 28,05 % — against 36 % at the same hour in 2021. Eight points lower already, before the polling stations had even closed.
The comparison that matters
A rate on its own says nothing. It has to be compared with the country's own history.
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Final turnout in Moroccan legislative elections, by ballot
2002 | 51,61 | %
2007 | 37 | %
2011 | 45 | %
2016 | 43 | %
2021 | 50,18 | %
!2026 | 38,02 | %
[[/BAR]]
We must grasp what this means. In 2021, one registered Moroccan in two voted. In 2026, fewer than four in ten.
A fall of more than twelve points in five years. The country did not simply vote less: it disengaged.
The figure that explains abstention better than any other
There is, in the official Moroccan data, one statistic worth more than all the commentary.
Voters aged 18 to 24 account for 4 % of registered electors.
Four per cent.
For a country where half the population is under thirty, that is a verdict — and it is harsher than the overall rate.
Moroccan youth did not abstain: it never registered.
And the gap is there, gaping: estimates put the number of Moroccans entitled to vote at around 28 million, against 15 801 162 registered voters. Nearly one eligible person in two is not on the rolls.
The system, next — and it has to be said
It would be dishonest to speak only of abstention. We must also look at how votes turn into seats.
In Morocco, seats are allocated on the basis of the electors registered in each constituency, and not on the votes validly cast.
This formula has a mechanical consequence, and it is well known: it encourages parliamentary fragmentation, makes an absolute majority for a single party practically impossible, and imposes coalition governments.
In other words: abstention does not displace power. Nor does it challenge it. It leaves power in place, within a framework that produces coalitions in any case.
And the head of government — chosen from the party that came first, appointed by the king — then forms an executive for five years, the broad orientations of strategic sectors remaining the monarch's prerogative.
The vote changes the composition of an assembly. It does not change the architecture.
The incidents
The day was also marked by incidents, documented by the Moroccan press.
In Tangier, the public prosecutor's office announced the opening of an investigation after the circulation of a video showing a glass container filled with envelopes. According to the prosecution, one person was arrested in the courtyard of a school housing a polling station, in possession of a bag containing ballot papers which, according to footage broadcast by local media, belonged to one of the parties of the outgoing government majority.
In Marrakech, several people were arrested: a woman in the Mhamid district, on suspicion of influencing voters; two women and one man in the Oasis Sidi Brahim area, after the receipt of a video linked to an alleged attempt to buy votes; and two other people in Tassoultante and Guéliz.
Finally, a figure that deserves to be set beside the others: between 21 August and 15 September, Moroccan public prosecutor's offices recorded 93 election complaints — against 229 in 2021.
⚠️ This last figure is ambiguous, and we will not present it as proof. It may mean that irregularities have decreased. It may also mean that voters have given up reporting them. We give it because it exists, not because it settles anything.
What the provisional results say
At the time of writing, no official national tally by party has been published. What the available minutes do sketch out, however, is an unusual geography: the urban vote turned against the outgoing parties.
The final results will be proclaimed after the examination of contested cases.
Two Anglo-Saxon voices on the same figure
Our Argentine correspondent established the facts. Two of our English-speaking correspondents offer a different reading of them — and they do not say the same thing.
🇬🇧 Londres — David Ashworth
In London, a country that invented modern parliamentarism and criticises it without restraint, the figure of 38 % was read through one precise question: at what point does a chamber cease to be representative?
There is no legal threshold. But there is a political threshold, and it is easy to state: an assembly elected by fewer than four registered electors in ten, in a country where half of those entitled are not even registered, legislates for everyone but speaks for few.
The point that drew attention here, however, is not the rate. It is the rule. Seats allocated on the registered electors and not on the votes cast: the mechanism turns mass abstention into mere silence, with no effect on the architecture of power.
To remember: for London, Morocco's problem in 2026 is not that people do not vote. It is that their abstention cannot produce anything.
🇦🇺 Sydney — Liam Bennett
In Sydney, the reading is comparative, and it is useful.
Democracies that experience a lasting fall in turnout have almost all responded in the same way: compulsory voting, automatic registration, or preferential voting. Morocco has made none of these three choices.
And one detail was noted here: the gap between 28 million estimated eligible voters and 15,8 million registered ones. This is not abstention, it is non-registration — and non-registration is not corrected by a speech, but by a reform of the register.
To remember: for Sydney, 38 % is not merely a bad score. It is the symptom of a registration mechanism that, for years, has left half of the civic body out of the game.
What is to be retained, without exaggerating
Three facts, and we will stop there.
1. In 2026 Morocco recorded its lowest legislative turnout since 2007, with 38,02 % and abstention of 61,98 %.
2. Young people are absent from the electoral body: 18-24 year-olds account for 4 % of registered voters, when half the country is under thirty.
3. The electoral system guarantees that this abstention will not translate into a change of political architecture: seats are calculated on registered voters, an absolute majority is improbable, and the head of government is appointed.
These are not opinions. They are official figures, published by the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior — and an electoral rule that Morocco applies to itself.
Different conclusions may be drawn from them. They cannot be contested.
Sources: Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Morocco — turnout statements of 23 September 2026 (4,23 % at 10h; 11,34 % at 12h; 21 % at 15h; 28,05 % at 17h; 38,02 % at the close), taken up by Hespress, Medi1News, Le360, Barlamane, Sahara Medias and Notícias ao Minuto · Moroccan Ministry of the Interior via MAP Express / SNRT for the electoral body (15 801 162 registered voters) · historical series of turnout (2002, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2021): Moroccan Ministry of the Interior, taken up by the Moroccan and international press · AFP via Arab News en français — polling stations opened at 8h00 and closed at 19h00, 395 seats, 27 parties, 1 850 lists and 7 288 candidates · H24info and Alyaoum24 — the Marrakech arrests; Moroccan public prosecutor's office via Barlamane — the Tangier investigation and the election complaints from 21 August to 15 September · rules for the allocation of seats: Le360 / Medi1News and Moroccan electoral law.