82% Moroccans do not trust the government, new CMC report shows

The Moroccan Center for Citizenship (CMC) conducted a poll to assess public opinion on the government’s performance after a year in office, which reflects substantial dissatisfaction.

CMC was formed in order to involve citizens in tracking and evaluating Public policies.

The center developed the “Citizenship Barometer” initiative to measure the satisfaction of citizens with the public services provided to them.

The first study was about disturbing practices in the public space (December 2021) and the second was about the degree of satisfaction of female and male citizens with the outputs of social dialogue (May 2022).

This survey was completed during the period between October 20 and November 12, 2022. It was based on an electronic form developed through Google Forms, and distributed through social media.

The survey included questions aimed at evaluating the government’s performance one year after its appointment, as well as evaluating the contribution of the political actor in managing public affairs and in enhancing the citizen’s confidence in political life.

2272 female and male citizens from all regions of the Kingdom participated in the poll. The survey has women represent 14.2% and men 85.8%.

Young people under 30 years of age represent 27.8% of the participants, while people between 30 and 40 years old represent 32.5%, and 24.2% for people between 40 and 50 years old. While the age groups over 50 years old represent 15.5%.

The majority of participants are active social media users and have the minimum level of education that qualifies them to answer questions.

The Center explains that therefore, “from a scientific point of view, the obtained results cannot be considered representative.”

With 85,8 % male and 14,2 % female respondents, an 80,8 % majority have a higher degree of eduction. 42% are employed, while 18,4% are freelancers and 11,7% are students.

The majority of respondents come from the two regions with the largest populations, namely 19,1% from Rabat-Sale-Kenitra, and 14,3% from Casablanca-Settat, the Fes-Meknes and Souss Massa regions are represented respectively with 13,7% and 11,9%.

Results show the Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch is the actor with the highest rate of contribution to mistrust in governmental work and public affairs with 48,9% votes, followed by Abdelilah Benkirane and Abdellatif Ouahbi with 13,5% and 13,4% respectively.

Results of the survey show 64,7% respondents believe Nasser Bourita to be the most active and dedicated minister to the population, followed by Abdelouafi Leftit and Fouzi Lekjaa respectively.

35,3% of respondents say no public figure or official contributes to the population’s trust in the government, while 16,7% voted for Nasser Bourita’s contribution, followed by Nabila Mounib and Abdelilah Benkirane with 8,5% and 7,4% respectively.

66,6% of respondents believe that the Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch gaining from high fuel prices given his affiliation and shares in the industry is the main reason of their distrust in the government.

In general, the participants’ dissatisfaction with the government’s performance in managing social and economic subjects (very dissatisfied or dissatisfied), reached the following results:

*95% dissatifaction with high fuel prices and rising prices management.

*93% concerning middle class protection measures.

*91% regarding fighting corruption, 90% are dissatisfied with the cases of tax justice and education reforms.

*88% regarding the files of downloading the social state and social dialogue.

*82 % in relation to employment program (opportunities and projets).

*76% are dissatisfied with the social security project.

*90% of the participants expressed their dissatisfaction with the government’s communication, and 88% expressed their dissatisfaction with the government’s political involvement.

*82% of the participants do not trust the government and 77% do not trust the opposition, while 81% believe that the political parties do not fulfill their requirements.

Concerning the most reachable and performing members of the government, three ministers obtained 79% of the participants’ votes, noting that the concerned ministers have no political affiliation.

The report maintains that a year after the appointment of the government is considered an insufficient period to complete a comprehensive and more objective assessment.

On the other hand, “it is considered a sufficient period to assess the extent of citizens’ confidence in the measures currently taken by the government to fulfill its obligations.”