As Morocco holds a parliamentary election on September 23, young candidates are attempting to channel the momentum of last year’s Gen Z street protests into formal politics. Despite widespread voter apathy and systemic hurdles, new political entrants are pushing for tangible reforms in education, healthcare, and employment.
From Street Demonstrations to the Parliamentary Ballot
Nearly a year after nationwide unrest shook the kingdom, the political landscape is feeling the aftershocks. Environmental entrepreneur Hamza El Kharroubi is campaigning for a seat in parliament in Tetouan. The 28-year-old founded the Environment and Sustainability Party specifically to bridge the gap between youth activism and institutional politics.
The current legislative vote follows months of social upheaval. Demonstrations erupted across the country on September 27, 2025, sparked initially by public anger over the deaths of eight women following Caesarean deliveries at a hospital in Agadir, which became a flashpoint for wider grievances over public services. Those grievances rapidly widened into a broader movement targeting public healthcare, education, job scarcity, and corruption, as well as what protesters saw as misplaced public spending—with slogans reclaiming more schools and hospitals in lieu of the World Cup that Morocco is set to host, alongside demands for the fall of the government of Aziz Akhannouch, who has led it since his party, the RNI (Rassemblement National des Indépendants), won the 2021 legislative elections.
The previous protests by Gen Z have sparked more youth engagement in political parties. We expect this year to have exceptional participation from youth, both in voting and campaigning.
Hamza El Kharroubi, founder of the Environment and Sustainability Party (via Al Jazeera English)
Operating under the leaderless banner of GenZ 212, which organized starting from the Discord application (along with TikTok and Instagram), protesters mobilized online. By October 2025, clashes turned fatal, with at least three people killed during unrest. Yet, the energy that fueled those digital forums and street marches now confronts a stark electoral reality.
Voter Apathy and the Generational Divide at the Polls
More than 15.8 million citizens are registered for the September 23 vote to determine all 395 seats in Morocco’s House of Representatives. However, official statistics from electoral rolls finalized in July reveal that only about four percent of registered voters are aged between 18 and 24. Older generations dominate the electorate, with people aged 60 and above making up more than 29 percent of the electorate, while those aged 35 to 44 account for 21 percent. In the previous 2021 election, overall turnout was just over 50 percent.
For young organizers, this disengagement is an inherited hurdle.
Frustration over unmet promises regarding basic services despite massive budgets continues to drive the wedge between young citizens and traditional parties.
Demanding Accountability and Reforming Public Services
The grievances animating young voters go far beyond general campaign rhetoric. Az-el Arab Hilmi, a 32-year-old who works with the secretariat of the Federation of the Democratic Left (FGD) in Tifelt, argues that his generation expects tangible results in its daily life: good education, public healthcare that preserves dignity, real job opportunities and fairness in the distribution of opportunities
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There is a generation that wants to see tangible results in its daily life: good education, public healthcare that preserves dignity, real job opportunities and fairness in the distribution of opportunities.
Az-el Arab Hilmi, Federation of the Democratic Left (via Al Jazeera English)
Education remains a central fault line.
Grassroots demonstrators have continued public actions, recently staging protests in Casablanca and Tangier while urging a boycott of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations matches over government spending priorities.
Alternative Political Platforms and What Lies Ahead
Political formations are attempting to adapt their messaging to capture this frustrated demographic. The Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) has centered part of its electoral platform on youth under the title La jeunesse est la solution
, promising the insertion of 200,000 young people per year in employment or entrepreneurship and aiming for youth unemployment to fall below the 10 percent bar. The party’s proposals include social security contribution exemptions during the first few years for employers who hire a young person for the first time, professional integration contracts, single national digital platforms, and facilitating access to public procurement for youth-led cooperatives and social enterprises.
Whether these digital networks and new candidacies successfully translate protest energy into legislative seats remains to be seen as voters cast their ballots.
