Morocco Cracks Down on ’Ramadan Baskets’ Amid Election Season Concerns

The month of Ramadan is par excellence the month of charity and sharing. Some sources from the daily Al Massae specify that several elected officials, including presidents of municipal councils and local councilors who want to run for another term, are preparing to enroll underprivileged voters, living in rural clusters or disadvantaged neighborhoods, by including their names on the list of beneficiaries of the "Ramadan baskets". These elected officials are therefore using the list to recruit electoral votes and run an early campaign to promote their candidacies for the upcoming elections.

According to the same source, the candidates who engage in this type of practice are in the sights of the general inspection commissions under the Ministry of the Interior, who suspect some of them of granting ghost jobs to their relatives, while others will be inspected for tenders often won by companies close to them.

Thus, the governors of certain provinces are called upon to block this "electoral charity", so that the aid granted by the State to relieve the most destitute does not serve to enroll voters.