With Morocco’s legislative elections just under two weeks away, the Istiqlal Party finds itself in an unusual bind: a member of the outgoing governing coalition trying to convince voters it deserves to lead the next government outright.
On August 29, the party led by Nizar Baraka unveiled its campaign platform under the slogan « My Country… My Future, » built around five priorities: family support, protecting household purchasing power, improving public services, fighting corruption and reinforcing national sovereignty. Baraka has filed his own candidacy in the Asilah constituency, a move widely read as a direct bid for the premiership once results are in.
The political arithmetic, however, is not straightforward. Unlike the Justice and Development Party, now in opposition and free to hammer the government’s record without restraint, Istiqlal must defend its own participation in the outgoing cabinet while simultaneously trying to distinguish itself from its coalition partners, the National Rally of Independents and the Authenticity and Modernity Party, two formations currently dominating campaign airtime and headlines.
That visibility gap is a real concern inside the party, despite Istiqlal’s long organizational history and its traditional grassroots base across the country. Internal strains have surfaced too: a lawmaker who chairs a regional council recently defected to the Authenticity and Modernity Party in the middle of the candidate-selection process, a departure that has not gone unnoticed with the vote just days away.
Moroccan political observers describe the September 23 ballot as a genuine test for Istiqlal’s strategy. Can the party convert its record as a coalition partner into a mandate to actually lead the next executive, or will it remain a secondary player overshadowed by rivals better positioned in public opinion? The outcome will shape not only Baraka’s own premiership ambitions but also the credibility of the electoral message the party has pushed since late August.
More broadly, Istiqlal’s balancing act illustrates just how contested the race has become even among parties that governed together for the past term, as each looks to turn shared governmental achievements into its own electoral capital before the campaign officially opens.
