2021 elections: High turnout in Sahara provinces translates inhabitants’ commitment to their Moroccanness
The high voters’ turnout in the Moroccan southern provinces during the general elections held on Sept.8 translates the attachment of the inhabitants of these provinces to their Moroccan identity, said Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, in letters sent to the UN Secretary-General and to the President and members of the Security Council.
The population of the Moroccan Sahara provinces showed great support for the general election, recording the highest voter turnout in Morocco, Omar Hilale said, stressing that “the massive participation of the population of the Moroccan Sahara in the election is a further proof, by the ballot box, of the Moroccanness of these provinces, and the inhabitants’ exercise of their inalienable right to the democratic management of their local affairs, as part of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Morocco.”
The Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations, Ambassador Omar Hilale, sent letters to the UN Secretary-General and the President and members of the Security Council, informing them of the general elections held on September 8 in the Kingdom, including in the Moroccan Sahara.
In the letter informing the UN of the holding, for the first time, of general elections -legislative, communal and regional-, the diplomat described Sept.8 as a historic day, adding that “the voter turnout nationwide has reached 50.35%. This is a record rate compared to previous elections, despite the restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
In the Moroccan Sahara, the voter turnout rate reached 66.94% in the region of Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra and 58.30% in the region of Dakhla-Oued Ed Dahab. “At the provincial level, the voter turnout in the Moroccan Sahara was remarkable: in the Region of Dakhla-Oued Ed Dahab, the turnout reached 79.64% in the Province of Aousserd and 54.40% in the Province of Oued Ed Dahab and in the Region of Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra, the turnout recorded was 85.20% in the Province of Tarfaya, 67.37% in the Province of Es-Smara, 68.65% in the Province of Laayoune and 64.10% in the Province of Boujdour.”
The Moroccan diplomat also indicated that these elections were monitored and observed, in total independence and neutrality, by 5,020 national and international observers. These includes 4,891 national observers, including 568 observers from the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), and 129 international observers, representing several countries of Africa, Europe, Asia and the Arab world, international and regional organizations, national and international parliaments and non-governmental organizations and civil society.
“National and international observers have all testified to the conduct of these elections in a democratic, transparent and inclusive manner, under the procedures governing electoral processes and in line with the highest international standards,” he noted in the letter, adding that as testified by the observers no incident likely to affect the transparency of the ballot was reported in all the regions of the Kingdom.
