Three heavyweight candidates are now lined up for Rabat-Ocean’s four parliamentary seats, setting up one of the capital’s most closely watched contests ahead of the September 23 elections.
Outgoing Youth, Culture and Communication Minister Mohamed Mehdi Bensaïd is seeking to retain the seat he won for PAM in 2021. He faces former minister Abdelkrim Benatiq, who will lead the USFP list, and former minister Mustapha El Khalfi for PJD.
Bensaïd and Benatiq formalized their candidacies on Monday as registration got under way.
For Bensaïd, the race is a return to a constituency where he survived a punishing 2021 election that sent two national party leaders out of Parliament.
Then Head of Government and PJD secretary-general Saâd-Eddine El Othmani finished fifth with 4,028 votes, missing out on one of the four seats. PPS secretary-general Nabil Benabdallah finished eighth with 2,210.
Bensaïd was among the four candidates elected.
Benatiq is now seeking to put USFP back in contention, invoking the party’s longstanding ties with the capital as he completed his candidacy on Monday.
He also praised the new registration procedure, calling it “an impeccable system that worked without any irregularities,” and urged voters to turn out in large numbers on September 23.
PAM fields Benbrahim in Rabat-Chellah
Across the capital, PAM is also fielding outgoing MP Adib Benbrahim in Rabat-Chellah.
Selected by the party in July, Benbrahim will contest the constituency covering Takaddoum, Douar El Hajja, Youssoufia and Mabella.
Le360 followed him as he formalized his candidacy on Monday. Benbrahim said both the online registration and physical filing had gone smoothly and declared himself “ready to face the competition against the other candidates.”
