Over 5,800 candidates run for house of representatives elections
Morocco, Politics, 9/17/2002

A total of 5,865 candidates included in 1,744 lists are running for this September 27 elections to renew the House of Representatives, lower chamber of parliament, said Saturday interior minister, Driss Jettou.

The lists represent 26 political parties while candidates who are not member of any political party are included in five lists.

Only two political parties are not running for elections while two parties, the USFP -- socialist union of popular forces -- and the Istiqlal party have candidates in 97 electoral constituencies, he said.

Of women's participation, the minister said the number of women candidates stands at 226, accounting for 5% of candidates. A total of 47 women are running as heads of lists. Some parties included men in "national lists" which are meant to ensure at least a 10% presence of women in the house of representatives. Those are the social democratic movement (8 men), the national democrat party (5 men), the constitutional union (3 men)and the democratic union (6 men).

Out of the 5,865 candidates, 47% have a university education, 27% a high school level and only 3% did not receive any education. For women candidates, the percentage of candidates with a university degree stands at 64%, 27 have a high school education level, 6% have attended primary school and 3% do not have any education.

In the age breakdown, over one third of candidates are aged less than 40 years, while over 50-year olds represent a little more than 25% and 75 % are aged between 23 and 50 years.

A total of 253 candidates are political personalities, including 7 party leaders and 9 ministers.

While the smallest number of lists was recorded in the constituency of Assa-Zag (8 lists), the constituency of Meknes-El Menzah is the one with the largest number of competing lists with 27 lists.

Previous Stories:
  Leftist party boycotts elections   (9/16/2002)
  Elections watchdog calls for rigorous application of electoral law   (9/14/2002)
  Elections in Morocco since Independence in 1956   (9/13/2002)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search