With more than 38% of the votes, the list led by Manon Aubry came first in the Cherifian kingdom, but also in Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania.
Contrary to the votes cast in France, where the National Rally (RN) came first in more than 90% of municipalities, French voters in Morocco mainly turned to La France insoumise (LFI), Sunday June 9, during European elections. The list led by Manon Aubry won more than 38% of the approximately 9,000 votes cast, coming first in four of the kingdom’s six consular cities, including Rabat and Casablanca, where the number of French voters is the largest. The party even came close to 50% in Fez and Tangier, where it achieved its best scores. Only Agadir and Marrakech escape him.
From the first estimates coming out of the polls on Sunday, the opinions of observers converged to explain the success of LFI in Morocco and throughout the Maghreb, the formation having finished in first place in Algeria, Tunisia, and, further south, in Mauritania. A “Gaza effect”, according to Abdelghani Youmni: “Throughout the region, LFI scored big because the Palestinian question is central there”, observes this advisor to the French from Casablanca, member of the Socialist Party (PS), for whom dual nationals – who represent more than half of the voters – and French people from mixed couples were sensitive to the position of LFI, which denounces a “genocide” in Gaza.
The results recorded by the rebels during the previous European elections support this analysis. The gap is indeed striking between the two ballots. In 2019, LFI had barely reached 10% in Morocco, finishing third, far behind La République en Marche (LRM, now Renaissance) and Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV). Sunday’s scores, however, reflect the trend observed during the first round of the 2022 presidential election. Jean-Luc Mélenchon came in first with 54% of the votes in Tangier, his hometown, 52% in Fez, almost 48%. in Rabat and 42% in Casablanca.
“I’m not surprised,” confides an EELV employee. Feedback from the field has shown for several weeks that voters in Morocco feel very concerned about what is happening in Gaza. They sent a very clear message. » The personality of the Franco-Palestinian jurist Rima Hassan, who joined the LFI list, seems to have played in favor of the mobilization of French voters in North Africa. “The party knew how to make the most of its media coverage and the results prove it right,” continues the EELV collaborator.
The arrival of Gabriel Attal “compromised”
The irruption of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the European campaign is not, however, the only reason that would explain the vote of the French in Morocco in favor of LFI. “The visa crisis has left its mark,” notes a left-wing activist. In September 2021, Emmanuel Macron drastically reduced their number, the head of state criticizing Rabat, Algiers, and Tunis for the poor issuance of consular passes essential for expelling illegal immigrants from France. Jean-Luc Mélenchon did not spare his criticism against this decision.
If it was expected, the victory of LFI in Morocco seems above all not to have suffered from the positions of Manon Aubry, wonders Nicolas Arnulf, an advisor to the French in Rabat. At the start of 2023, the leader of the rebels in Strasbourg supported two resolutions from the European Parliament: one called for respect for press freedom in Morocco, and the other denounced Rabat’s supposed attempts at interference with MEPs. Like other executives of her party, such as Mathilde Panot, Manon Aubry has also declared herself on several occasions in favor of the separatists of Western Sahara, which Morocco considers as an integral part of its territory.
But the words of Jean-Luc Mélenchon during his official visit to the kingdom, in October 2023, certainly reassured Franco-Moroccan voters, assures Abdelghani Youmni. The rebellious leader had suggested that France should rally around the United States and Israel, who have recognized Moroccan sovereignty in Western Sahara, or at the very least with Spain, which considers the Moroccan autonomy plan to be ” the most serious and credible basis” for a resolution of the conflict.
Incidentally, the results of the European elections and the dissolution of the National Assembly, announced on Sunday by the French president, could slow down the ongoing warming of Franco-Moroccan relations. Expected in Rabat at the beginning of July, the head of government, Gabriel Attal, was to participate in the high joint commission between the two countries, which has not been held since 2019. But his arrival is today “very certainly compromised”, indicates a diplomatic source. In Morocco, the question now is whether a far-right prime minister will take over.
