Morocco and Spain normalized their diplomatic relations in April 2022 after Spain’s change of position on the Sahara. The two countries signed a joint declaration in Rabat containing the "new roadmap" of their relations. After a year of relative peace, new tensions are emerging, due to Morocco’s claims on Sebta and Melilla.
Algeria no longer wants to negotiate with the government of Pedro Sanchez. The Algerian authorities are waiting for the early legislative elections on July 23 in Spain to consider a resumption of relations, suspended since the change of position on the Sahara.
Morocco would have financed the purchase of votes in Melilla for around 2 million euros via "Hawala", a traditional informal payment system established for years between Rabat and Melilla.
Aya Ben Hamama, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) candidate for the May 28 municipal elections in Parla, firmly put an Internet user in his place who was trying to get her opinion on King Mohammed VI and her country of origin, Morocco.
The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, announced that his party wants to win the municipal elections next Sunday in Ceuta in order to curb the "Moroccanization" that the autonomous city has undergone in recent years.
Born in Spain to Moroccan parents, Safia El Aaddam has not exercised her right to vote since reaching the age of majority because she does not have Spanish nationality. On May 28, she will finally be able to vote for the first time.
Vote buying in Melilla, a practice of which Morocco is accused, is taking on alarming proportions in the city. A Spanish newspaper warns about this electoral fraud in the context of the May 28 elections.
In Morocco, a non-negligible segment of expatriate Turks are voting in the 2023 presidential and legislative elections. Voting started on Saturday and ends this Sunday, May 7.
The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez, was called a "traitor" during a rally of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) in the city of Segovia (Castile and León), during this pre-electoral campaign period.
The Podemos party is asking Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska to investigate a rumor about some 1,600 Moroccans who would have illegally registered for an apartment in Barcelona where only five would live in order to receive social assistance and vote in the upcoming municipal elections.
The Franco-Moroccan Ahmed Eddarraz , former candidate for the French legislative elections in the 9th constituency of French citizens abroad (which includes Morocco), will not be able to participate in the new by-elections to be held in April.
The only candidate for his succession, the Moroccan Ahmed Laaouej has regained his position as president of the Brussels Federation of the Socialist Party (PS), following the vote that took place on Saturday, March 11.