On September 23, 2026, Moroccans are called to vote in the first legislative election held since the Gen Z protests that shook the kingdom a year earlier. The vote carries particular weight for a generation that, only months ago, was filling the streets rather than the polling stations.
It all began with a tragedy at a public hospital in Agadir, where several women died during childbirth for lack of adequate care. That heartbreaking episode lit the fuse and exposed, beyond the individual case, a much deeper unease over the state of Morocco’s public services. By late September 2025, a leaderless movement with no formal structure, known as Gen Z 212 after the country’s telephone code, had begun organizing through Discord, TikTok and Instagram. Its demands quickly widened well beyond healthcare, coming to include access to quality education, job creation for a youth battered by unemployment, and an end to corruption. The rallies of October 2025 turned violent in clashes with security forces, leaving at least three people dead and only hardening the protesters’ resolve.
A year on, part of that same generation is trying a different approach: turning street anger into electoral weight. That is the choice Younes Belaidi made. At 29, this former activist is now running under the banner of the Party of Progress and Socialism. For him, mobilization cannot stop at marches and hashtags. « We need to mobilize massively, » he insists, convinced that the ballot box is also where the reforms his generation is demanding will be decided. Other figures are following a similar path, among them Hamza El Kharroubi, 28, an entrepreneur focused on environmental issues, and Az-el Arab Hilmi, 32, both arguing that young people must finally win a real seat at the political table rather than remain confined to the role of protesters.
The bet remains a risky one, given how heavily the generational divide still weighs on Moroccan politics. Voters aged 18 to 24 make up just 4 percent of the registered electorate, against 29 percent for those over sixty, a demographic imbalance that mechanically limits the influence of Gen Z-backed candidates, however loud their echo on social media. Compounding the problem, youth unemployment reached 37.2 percent in 2025, a figure that fuels both distrust of institutions and, for some, a determination to change them from within.
Torn between hope for change and the temptation of abstention, Morocco’s youth are approaching this election divided. Some, like Younes Belaidi, are betting on the vote to carry forward the fight that began in the streets. Others remain more doubtful that a handful of scattered candidacies can make an entire generation heard in a parliament where it remains deeply underrepresented. The result on September 23 will show whether this electoral gamble managed to turn the anger of 2025 into lasting political change, even in part.