Local and territorial authorities

2021 Elections: Strengthening local democracy

According to national and foreign observers and analysts, the massive participation of inhabitants of the southern provinces in the legislative, communal and regional elections, held on September 8, 2021 is a strong signal of the Sahrawi people's unwavering attachment to their country and willingness to participate in the edification of its institutions towards the implementation the advanced regionalization.

The three southern regions of the Kingdom, with a participation rate of 66.94% in Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra, 63.76% in Guelmim-Oued Noun and 58.30% in Dakhla-Oued Eddahab, have far exceeded the rate recorded at the national level of 50.18%.  

An experience of local democracy has already been established in the southern provinces for several years within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty, insofar as the institutions elected at the various levels of the territorial collectivities are managed by the inhabitants of these provinces themselves, and the results of the 2021 elections are clear evidence of this reality.

This strong involvement in the management of local affairs is grafted on a context of unprecedented socio-economic take-off experienced by the southern provinces, since the launching of the new development model by HM King Mohammed VI in 2015 dedicated to these provinces, thanks to which colossal investments have been injected into the three regions.

The massive participation of the Sahrawi citizens in the elections of September 8 confirms their attachment to the territorial unity of the Kingdom, and their full commitment to the implementation of the development model in the southern provinces.

This model is part of an advanced regionalization, based on the development of potentials and resources of each region and on the mobilization of local actors.