Moroccan candidacy excluded as Algeria wins African parliament vote marred by irregularities

The exclusion of Morocco’s candidate from the race for the Pan-African Parliament presidency has cast a shadow over the vote that saw Algeria secure the post, with Rabat arguing the election unfolded under conditions that “lack the most basic standards of integrity and democracy.”

Algeria’s Fateh Boutbig was elected at the end of April in Midrand, South Africa, in a process Moroccan parliamentary sources say effectively turned into a single-candidate vote after Lahcen Haddad was prevented from formally submitting his candidacy through what they described as “procedural maneuvers lacking transparency.”

According to the same sources who spoke to Hespress, members were asked to vote exclusively for the Algerian nominee, “in the absence of any plurality or electoral competition,” a sequence they say reflects a deliberate effort to sideline Morocco and impose a predetermined outcome.

Morocco subsequently boycotted the vote, framing the decision as a rejection of “a flawed process” rather than a withdrawal.

An official statement from the Moroccan parliament cited “serious legal and procedural violations,” including the imposition of a vote without legal basis, failure to respect consensus mechanisms and “direct interference” in the conduct of meetings.

The same statement pointed to irregularities during preparatory meetings of the North Africa group, including “the presence of security elements in internal meetings” and decisions taken “outside the regulatory framework,” as well as discrepancies in vote counts and procedural timelines, which it said undermine the credibility of the result.

Moroccan officials also argue the process breached established practices within the African Union, including regional rotation and consensus-based decision-making, warning that bypassing these mechanisms risks weakening institutional balance and trust.

Rabat has formally raised the issue with African Union bodies, stating that its boycott was “not a retreat, but a principled position refusing to legitimize a flawed process,” and calling for intervention to restore adherence to institutional rules.