In Morocco, the campaign continues for the legislative and municipal elections, to be held next Wednesday, including in the Sahara region, similar to the previous elections.

In the Sahara region, which is disputed between Morocco and the “Polisario” Front, there are 3 regions (governorates) (the country includes 12 regions, and each region includes a number of cities and regions).

Rabat proposes expanded autonomy under its sovereignty, while the “Polisario” calls for a referendum for self-determination, a proposal supported by Algeria, which hosts refugees from the region.

**Departments of the desert

The Sahara region includes three sides: the Laayoune-Sakia-Hamra side, the Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab side, and the Guelmim-Oued Noun side.

Of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives (the first chamber of parliament), the region’s candidates are competing for 34 seats, 14 of which are in the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region.

The Guelmim-Oued Noun region has 13 seats, and the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region has 7 seats.

All Moroccan parties participate, in different proportions, in the parliamentary and municipal elections in the region.

The number of political bodies that will participate in the upcoming elections has reached 31 parties, including the newly established coalition of political parties.

** Major provinces

The Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region is considered the largest of the three regions of the Sahara, where 3,868 male and female candidates applied to compete for 431 seats in parliament, regional and municipal councils.

The region includes 4 regions, namely El-Ayoun, Smara, Boujdour and Tarfaya. The total number of candidates for the municipal elections in the region reached 2,864 people, to win 370 seats in the municipal councils.

Eighty-one lists of 254 male and female candidates are competing for the 14 parliamentary seats allocated to the region, while the number of contested seats in the region’s council is 47.

** The largest cities in the desert

In the city of El-Ayoun (the largest city in the desert), 2013 candidates are running in the elections, to win 143 seats, including parliament, municipal councils and the regional council.

Participation rates in the elections in the Sahara region are known to be high compared to other Moroccan regions.

During the elections of the professional chambers on August 6, the participation rate in the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region was about 64 percent, compared to 47 percent of the national participation rate.

In the 2015 municipal elections, the turnout in Laayoune was 57.66 percent, compared to a national average of 53.67 percent.

** Independence party”

For years, the Istiqlal Party (opposition) has been at the fore in the region’s political scene.

And “Istiqlal” is a conservative national party, founded in 1944 by a number of leaders of the Moroccan national movement against French colonialism, led by the national leader Allal El Fassi, who headed the party until his death in 1973.

Observers believe that what gave the party a strong presence in the desert areas is the membership of the leader from the region, Hamdi Ould Rashid, especially in light of the tribal extension of this leader.

Weld al-Rashid is the mayor of El-Ayoun and a parliamentarian from the “Istiqlal” party in the House of Representatives. He is considered one of the region’s strongmen.

According to the data of the Ministry of the Interior, “Istiqlal” tops the list of the parties most nominated for the upcoming elections in the municipality of El-Ayoun, with 94 percent of the total seats allocated to the municipality.

** numbers

According to official data, 1,704 lists are competing in the elections.

The lists for the House of Representatives elections include 6,815 candidates, an average of more than 17 nominations for each seat.

The municipal election lists include 157,569 nominations.

Municipal council elections are conducted according to two patterns: the list system in districts with a population of more than 50,000 people, and the least populated in which individual voting is applied.

The number of voters throughout Morocco is 17,983,490 out of about 36 million people.

Males constitute the largest proportion of those registered in the electoral lists, with 54 percent, compared to 46 percent of females.

There are 46 percent of Moroccan voters in villages and rural areas, who constitute a target that attracts the ambitions of the parties, in order to win their votes.

The competition for the leadership of the legislative elections results is intense between the “Justice and Development” party (leader of the government coalition) and the “National Rally of Independents” (participant in the coalition).

In the political scene, as an electoral force, the “Authenticity and Modernity” and “Al-Istiqlal” parties (opponents) also stand out.

For the first time in the history of Morocco, the “Justice and Development” (Islamic) has led the government since 2011, after winning parliamentary elections in the kingdom that year, and then in 2016.

Anatolia