AL HOCEIMA — Morocco’s Istiqlal party is facing a brewing internal crisis in the northern province of Al Hoceima, where roughly forty elected officials — including several commune presidents and members of the party’s national council — are threatening a collective resignation from their posts within the organization.
At the heart of the dispute is growing anger over how party leader Nizar Baraka has handled the sensitive process of selecting candidates for the upcoming legislative elections. Party sources describe months of simmering frustration in the region, driven largely by accusations that Baraka has shown favoritism toward the family of Nourredine Mediane, the constituency’s outgoing lawmaker.
According to those sources, that perceived favoritism has sidelined the contributions of other longtime Istiqlal cadres and elected officials in Al Hoceima, fueling resentment that has now boiled over. Officials leading the revolt say they specifically object to Baraka effectively delegating to Mediane the power to handpick the candidate who would go on to receive the executive committee’s endorsement for the Al Hoceima constituency — a move they argue tramples the will of local party members and bypasses the internal procedures meant to govern candidate selection.
Sources close to the party’s internal affairs, cited by the newspaper Al3omk, say Mediane proposed a little-known, personally loyal commune president as his successor for the seat. That suggestion, they say, ignited fresh outrage among rank-and-file members who see it as evidence that the candidate-selection process has been carved up to serve the interests of the Mediane family, which critics say has dominated the party’s local structure for more than three decades.
Protesting officials also point to Mediane’s past legal troubles, noting he was previously convicted in a defamation case involving a fellow party member, Rafiaa El Mansouri — a record they argue makes him an inappropriate figure to be steering candidate selection from behind the scenes.
The same sources say several of the disgruntled officials have already opened talks with rival political parties, weighing a possible defection ahead of the 2026 legislative elections. Should that materialize, it would deal a significant blow to Istiqlal in one of its traditional strongholds in northern Morocco.
Critics further allege that the party’s local branch in Al Hoceima is technically operating outside its own bylaws, since the mandate of its sectional leadership has already expired. They are calling on the national leadership to send a delegation to assess the situation on the ground firsthand.
As of publication, Istiqlal’s national leadership had issued no official response to the allegations or to the threatened mass resignation by its Al Hoceima officials.
