Watchdog Group Alleges Widespread Financial Misconduct in Moroccan Elections

In an interview with Hespress, Ahmed Bernoussi, Secretary General of the Moroccan Association for Transparency, Good Governance and Against Corruption, shared his observations on the latest general elections.

Relying on the Transparency Maroc report, the man said that "for these elections, whether at the level of the designation of candidates, the post-voting stages of the election campaign or in the constitution of the polling stations, as regards the regions or the municipalities, money flowed freely".

A few days ago, the organization indicated in a note that the elections in Morocco still experience "illegal practices and incompatible with the ethical standards" of a democracy.

As an example, Transparency Maroc cited the validation of the candidacy of former elected officials involved or allegedly involved in cases of corruption and embezzlement of public funds, committed in the exercise of their mandates and brought before the courts.

Also, the Secretary General of Transparency denounced the lack of cooperation from the authorities in providing essential data on the votes outside the official results announced by the Ministry of the Interior.

"Here we note that the constitution and the law on access to information are not respected and that citizens, the media have not had complete or adequate information on the results of the elections and here too it is a bad image that we give of the country as to the transparency of its elections," he protested.

To this end, the organization has called on the Moroccan authorities to make exhaustive information on the elections available to the public in accordance with Article 27 of the Constitution and Law 31-13 on the right of access to information.