A political earthquake has hit Morocco’s Istiqlal Party. Member of Parliament Abdelrahim Bouaida announced Saturday that he is resigning both from the party and from his seat in the House of Representatives, after learning that party leadership would not back his candidacy for the upcoming legislative elections in the Guelmim constituency, opting instead for a different candidate.
Bouaida broke the news himself, in a video posted to his social media accounts rather than through a formal party statement. He framed the move not as a fit of electoral pique but as a deliberate refusal to trade his convictions, and the criticism he has voiced from the floor of parliament, for the promise of another term in office. As he put it, he chose to give up the party’s endorsement rather than give up the independence of his political voice.
The outgoing MP was blunt about his grievances with the Istiqlal leadership, accusing it of applying questionable criteria when it settled on its pick for the Guelmim seat. In his view, the decision owed more to internal party calculations than to any honest accounting of his record in parliament, a record he says was built on outspokenness and on defending local issues specific to the Guelmim region.
Still, Bouaida was careful to frame his departure as something short of a political retirement. Leaving Istiqlal, he said, closes one chapter without ending his broader political journey. He intends to present his parliamentary track record directly to the constituents who elected him, and to keep speaking out on local concerns regardless of any party affiliation going forward.
The resignation reopens a debate that resurfaces ahead of nearly every election cycle in Morocco: how political parties decide who gets to run, and the internal friction those decisions provoke. It also underscores a recurring tension for sitting lawmakers caught between party discipline and the freedom to speak their mind in parliament, an issue likely to shadow preparations for the next legislative vote.
