Moroccan prosecutors have tightened their grip on an alleged vote-buying scheme in Tangier, ordering a travel ban against a city councilor from the Souani district over his suspected role in a corruption scheme tied to September’s legislative election. The move follows the emergence of a leaked audio recording that investigators say directly implicates him.
According to sources close to the case, Tangier security services had already questioned the councilor after the recording, attributed to him, circulated widely on social media. In the clip, a voice is heard describing how certain voters were allegedly offered cash in exchange for photographing their ballots inside the polling booth — a way of proving they had voted for a specific candidate code.
The investigation remains open under the oversight of the relevant public prosecutor’s office, which has ordered a technical analysis of the recording to confirm its authenticity and establish who made it, along with the circumstances surrounding its recording and its rapid spread online.
Sources close to the inquiry stressed that the travel ban is a precautionary measure tied strictly to the preliminary judicial inquiry. Its purpose is to ensure the suspect remains available to the courts should further questioning be required, and it carries no presumption of guilt: under Moroccan law, he remains innocent until a final court ruling says otherwise.
The case is one of several judicial proceedings opened in Tangier in the aftermath of the September 23 vote, alongside the separate so-called « ballot bag » affair linked to the Al Qods school. For weeks, judicial authorities in the city have signaled heightened vigilance toward any suspicion capable of tainting the integrity of the electoral process, a sign that officials are determined to leave no shadow hanging over the legislative results.
Beyond this individual case, the episode reignites a broader debate in Morocco over the regulation of campaign practices and the growing role social media now plays in both exposing — and sometimes distorting — this kind of sensitive investigation.
