Turnout: 43.00%
About this election
General elections were held in Morocco on 7 October 2016 to elect the 395-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament. It was the second general election held under the 2011 constitution, adopted after the "Arab Spring" protests, which obliged the king to appoint the prime minister from the party winning the most seats. The result confirmed the incumbent Justice and Development Party (PJD), the moderate Islamist party of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, as the largest party for a second time — it won 125 seats, a gain of 18 — while the pro-monarchy Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) surged to a strong second place with 102.
Turnout was 43%. The PJD topped the poll with 27.88% and 125 seats, followed by the PAM on 20.95% and 102 seats — the two rivals together taking well over half the chamber. The Istiqlal (Independence) Party came third with 46 seats (10.68%), ahead of the National Rally of Independents (RNI) on 37 (9.32%), the Popular Movement (MP) on 27 (6.84%) and the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) on 20 (6.19%). The Constitutional Union (UC) won 19 seats, the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) 12 and the Democratic and Social Movement (MDS) 3, with the Federation of the Democratic Left (FGD) taking two and the PUD and Green Left one each.
The 395 members were elected by proportional representation in two tiers. In 2016, 305 seats were filled from 92 local multi-member constituencies with a 6% threshold, and the remaining 90 came from a single nationwide constituency with a 3% threshold — 60 of those seats reserved for women and 30 for candidates under the age of 40. Seats were distributed by largest remainder. Under this system no party can win an outright majority, so a coalition is always required; 198 seats form a majority. (The nationwide list was later replaced by twelve regional constituencies, and the threshold abolished, in the 2021 reform.)
The 2016 campaign was unusually bitter, dominated by a direct clash between the PJD and the PAM. The PJD cast itself as the reformist party of ordinary Moroccans defending elected government against the "tahakoum" — the entrenched influence of the palace-aligned establishment, which it identified with the PAM, a party founded in 2008 by a close adviser to the king. The PAM, led by Ilyas El Omari, positioned itself as a modern, secular counterweight to political Islam. Several left-wing groups and the large Islamist Justice and Spirituality movement boycotted the vote in protest at the monarchy's retained powers, and observers, while judging the election broadly free and fair, noted isolated vote-buying and expressed concern at the low turnout.
Although Benkirane was reappointed prime minister on 10 October 2016, forming a government proved extraordinarily difficult. The second-placed PAM ruled out joining him, forcing the PJD to court multiple smaller parties, and negotiations stalled for months over the RNI's demand — after Aziz Akhannouch took over its leadership — to include the UC and USFP in the coalition. The impasse lasted almost half a year. On 15 March 2017 King Mohammed VI dismissed Benkirane and, two days later, appointed a more emollient PJD figure, Saadeddine Othmani, to break the deadlock. Othmani finally assembled a six-party coalition — the PJD, RNI, MP, UC, PPS and USFP — whose cabinet was announced on 5 April 2017, six months after the election.
The 2016 election marked the high-water mark of the PJD's electoral fortunes: it was the only party to increase its seat total, and its 125 seats were the most any party had held under the 2011 constitution. Yet the drawn-out government formation and the eventual sidelining of Benkirane exposed the limits of the elected government's authority within Morocco's monarchical system — a tension that would help set the stage for the party's dramatic collapse five years later.
This page shows the final national seat distribution and vote share for the 2016 House of Representatives election, sourced from Morocco's Ministry of the Interior. Figures are given to two decimal places exactly as published.
Morocco elected its 395-seat House of Representatives on 7 October 2016, the second general election under the 2011 constitution. Turnout was 43%.
The Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), led by Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, remained the largest party with 125 seats (27.88%), a gain of 18. The pro-monarchy Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) came second with 102 seats.
The second-placed PAM refused to join, and coalition talks stalled over the RNI's demands. The deadlock lasted almost half a year until, in March 2017, King Mohammed VI dismissed Benkirane and appointed Saadeddine Othmani, who formed a six-party PJD-led coalition whose cabinet was announced on 5 April 2017.
By proportional representation in two tiers. In 2016, 305 seats came from 92 local constituencies (6% threshold) and 90 from a single nationwide list (3% threshold), 60 reserved for women and 30 for candidates under 40. No party can win a majority, so governments are coalitions; 198 seats are needed for one.
The Authenticity and Modernity Party, founded in 2008 by an adviser close to the king, positioned itself as a secular, modernist counterweight to the Islamist PJD. Its surge to 102 seats made the 2016 contest effectively a two-party clash between the PJD and PAM.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.