Morocco’s House of Representatives elected Ahmed Touizi of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) as its new speaker on Tuesday, after he secured 220 votes against 59 for opposition candidate Idriss El Azami El Idrissi of the Justice and Development Party (PJD).
Touizi, the candidate backed by the parliamentary majority, previously led PAM’s parliamentary group during the 2021-2026 legislative term. He takes the speakership as Morocco’s new parliament begins work following the September 23 legislative elections, which reshaped the balance of power in the lower house.
PAM emerged as the largest party, with 97 seats, while the National Rally of Independents (RNI), which led the previous parliamentary term, moved into the opposition.
A total of 369 votes were cast in Tuesday’s ballot, according to the presiding officer, Abdelaziz Aba, of the Istiqlal Party. Of these, 279 were valid and 90 were declared invalid.
Aba chaired the session in his capacity as head of the provisional bureau, in accordance with Article 48 of the House of Representatives’ rules of procedure. The provision assigns the provisional bureau responsibility for organizing and overseeing the election of the speaker.
Article 47 sets out the procedure for selecting the member who supervises the organization of the election session, based on parliamentary seniority and age.
Hespress previously reported, citing a senior PAM source, that the speakership had been secured for the party during consultations among political parties on forming the new government. The source said negotiations had taken into account political conventions under which a member of the party leading the government assumes the speakership of the lower house.
Article 62 of Morocco’s 2011 Constitution stipulates that the speaker, the members of the bureau and the heads of standing committees are elected at the beginning of the legislative term, and again during the April session of its third year for the remainder of the term. Bureau members are elected on the basis of proportional representation among parliamentary groups.
Under Article 52 of the House’s rules of procedure, the speaker is elected by secret ballot, with an absolute majority of members required for a candidate to win in the first round.
The election marks another step in the reorganization of Morocco’s parliament following the September 23 legislative elections. The new five-year term began with the opening of the first session of the first legislative year of the 12th legislature and the announcement of a new government led by Fatima Zahra Mansouri.
Four parties have joined the governing majority, while others have moved into the opposition. Two allied political components represented within a single parliamentary group have opted for what they describe as “critical support.”
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