For all the last-minute appeals to get out and vote, more than six in every 10 registered Moroccan voters sat Wednesday’s legislative election out.
The final turnout stopped at 38.02%, according to the Interior Ministry, leaving the 2026 election behind both of the previous legislative polls.
It was not for want of a late push.
At 5pm, only 28.05% had voted. The final two hours brought another 10 percentage points through polling-station doors, but not enough to take turnout past the 40% mark.
Five years ago, 50.18% voted.
That 12.16-point gap makes for an eye-catching comparison, though 2021 was a rather different election day. Voters then had three ballots to deal with—legislative, communal and regional elections were all packed into Sept 8.
The cleaner comparison is with 2016, when legislative elections were held on their own.
Turnout then was 42.29%. Wednesday finished 4.27 points lower.
The numbers put some flesh on a worry that followed parties throughout the campaign: getting voters interested enough to actually show up.
It was particularly visible in the closing days. Candidates who had spent much of the campaign asking Moroccans to vote for their programs increasingly found themselves making the more basic plea that they vote at all.
Election day did little early on to settle those nerves.
Just 4.23% had voted by 10am, two hours after polling stations opened. At noon, the figure was still 11.34%. The afternoon brought more movement—and the final two hours the day’s biggest push—before the counter stopped at 38.02%.
The 2021 figure remains comfortably out of reach, albeit under the unusual pull of three elections held together. Even against the more comparable 2016 contest, however, Wednesday brought fewer registered voters to the ballot box.
The parties are now counting seats. The turnout has already delivered a number of its own: 61.98% did not vote.
