Some 612 Candidates Ran for Renewal of 1/3rd of Upper House Members

Some 612 candidates ran for the elections held Friday in Morocco to renew 1/3rd (90 seats) of the 270 members of the Chamber of Advisors, upper house of parliament, interior minister, Ahmed El Midaoui, said.

The number of candidates represented an average of seven candidates per seat, the minister said at a press conference during which he announced the polling results.

437 candidates ran for 54 seats in the college of local councils, 76 candidates vied for the 27 seats reserved for professional chambers (agriculture chambers, trade, industry and services chambers, handicraft chambers and sea fisheries chambers) and 99 candidates ran for 9 seats of the wage-earners category.

The Interior minister noted that there were only seven women among the 612 candidates, representing 1.14% of all candidates.

Out of the 90 outgoing members of the upper house, 77 re-ran for the election.