With the arrival of September 2026, Morocco is preparing for national elections whose significance goes far beyond the mere institutional framework. In a world undergoing reconfiguration — marked by geopolitical upheavals, energy tensions, regional recompositions, and a shift in global balances — these elections will constitute a crucial test of the country’s ability to project itself with lucidity, coherence, and ambition. Yet, as the date approaches, a concern grows: the gap between citizens’ expectations and the discourse of political parties is more evident than ever.
While Moroccan society evolves at great speed, party structures seem stagnant, disconnected, prisoners of old reflexes and an exhausted political imagination.
Many political leaders persist in adopting a victimist posture, denouncing a supposed media campaign against party action. This discourse is not only wrong: it is dangerous. Because the media merely reflect a widely shared disillusionment — that of a political debate impoverished, abandoned, emptied of meaning. Moroccans are not asking for excuses, much less scapegoats. They expect a vision, bold proposals, a collective ambition that meets the challenges of the moment.
Political parties are not mere administrative components of democracy; they are its living foundations. It is their duty to structure public debate, to propose understandable projects, to embody an alternative, to train and integrate new generations.
Even more worrying is that certain political forces divert democratic mechanisms to impose a retrograde and intolerant vision. Their strategy relies on polarization, insult, and fear. Every dissenting voice is immediately stigmatized, demonized. It is no longer a matter of debating or convincing, but of intimidating and closing the public space.
But Moroccans are neither forgetful nor naïve. They remember the bombastic speeches empty of promises, the exercise of power marked by contradictions, opportunism, and renunciations. Governing is not about instrumentalizing beliefs or capitalizing on frustrations. Governing is about opening a path, embodying coherence, assuming an ethic of responsibility.
In this troubling context, civil society, intellectuals, free spirits, and committed citizens have an essential responsibility: to reaffirm the foundations of democracy. To defend plurality against uniformity. To protect debate against fear. To affirm that democracy is not reduced to electoral rituals, but is based on respect for the individual, the recognition of diversity, and the equality of all before the law.
Identity withdrawal, exclusionary logics, and hate speech have no future. They bring neither progress nor stability; they feed stagnation, division, and regression.
Morocco deserves more than a showcase democracy. It deserves a demanding, vibrant democracy, rooted in collective intelligence and sustained by political parties equal to their historic mission. The clock is already ticking. It is no longer a time for appearances.
