Political Parties: You Don’t Mess Around With Public Money

Budgetary discipline is clearly gaining ground in Morocco’s political sphere. And the Court of Auditors’ very latest report provides the evidence.

Referring to the detailed report on the results of the audit of political parties’ annual accounts, as well as the verification of the validity of their expenditures related to public support for fiscal year 2023, the report states that 24 parties had repaid to the Treasury—by 15 November 2025—a total of 36.03 million dirhams that had been granted to them both to finance election campaigns and as part of annual support.

Hello, latecomers!

In detail, the bulk of this amount relates to election campaigns, at 28.71 million dirhams; 2.53 million dirhams relates to operating expenditures, while 4.79 million dirhams is earmarked for assignments, studies, and research.

That said, not all political parties are in the same situation, according to the Court of Auditors’ report. The document tells us that 14 political parties still owe a total of 21.85 million dirhams to be repaid to the Treasury.

Specifically, this amount breaks down into 15.07 million dirhams that were not supported by documentation; 3.25 million dirhams that were simply not used; 2.88 million dirhams that were used for purposes other than those for which they were intended; and 650,000 dirhams recorded under an “improper classification” heading.

It should also be noted that 94% of the amounts not repaid relate to election campaigns. Apparently, in the heat of electioneering, some political parties end up forgetting to keep proper accounts—instead of scrambling to track down invoices. All the more so because the financial courts, each doing its job, keep a close watch, and their investigators comb through every account with a fine-toothed comb.

In this context, the Court of Auditors, far from merely noting the facts, recommended that the parties concerned “regularize their situation by repaying the amounts of support that were unused or unjustified.”

This way to the cash desk!

In the same vein, the Court asked the Ministry of the Interior to continue its efforts to encourage the political groups concerned to “comply with the legal and regulatory obligations regarding the repayment of said amounts.” And all indications are that the supervisory authority fully intends to pursue the recovery of public funds to the end.

The holdouts had better watch out. An all the more pressing warning given that the finances of parties still dragging their feet are very likely to take a hit.

This comes at a time when players on the national political scene are on high alert as the next electoral deadlines draw rapidly nearer. September is practically tomorrow—and every dirham counts.

All the more so because, against the backdrop of the new legal framework governing political parties, oversight has only become tougher. Even parties that have been banned from receiving support for violating the rules—and that might be counting on the “unconditional support of certain activists”—would do well to reread the new legal texts.

These, in fact, set caps that must not be exceeded. What’s more, while many political parties are asking for more public support, to be eligible for it they must first clear their outstanding liabilities. Time is running out; better to pay up before it’s too late, says this observer of the political scene.

Assets: Elected officials here, elected officials there!

This is not a luxury, but a genuine obligation. According to the Court of Auditors’ latest report, the number of persons subject to the requirement stood at 154,931 as of the end of October 2025. Of this group, 135,119 fall into the category of civil servants and other public employees.

That is 87% of all those subject to the requirement, while 18,258 fall into the category of local elected officials, representing 11.8%, and 1,482 people appear in other categories, the financial court’s document explains.

An important point to note: over the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 October last year, the financial courts received a total of 104,868 declarations, including 11,876 filed with the Court of Auditors, while the Regional Courts of Auditors received 92,992.

Another notable fact: the category of civil servants and public employees was the main source of filings, representing 92% of all declarations submitted, the report states.

It adds that the increase in the number of declarations filed over the period in question is explained by “the arrival of the renewal date, which coincided with the year 2024 for local elected officials (renewal every two years in February) and the year 2025 for the remaining categories of persons subject to the requirement (renewal every three years in February).”

On another front, and as part of the principle of accountability, no fewer than 44 local elected officials were dismissed and several elected officials were brought before the courts, the Court of Auditors’ report indicates.

What’s more, the document adds, a list of 474 elected officials who had not submitted their accounts was forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior: 468 belonging to 28 political parties, 1 belonging to a trade union confederation, and 5 with no political affiliation.

In the same context, we learn that around twenty case files involving presumed criminal matters were referred to the courts—between January 2024 and the end of last September alone. Of these case files, 13 concern territorial local authorities.

Taken together, the number of case files reached 55 between 2021 and 2025—an average of 11 cases per year. And to think people say the reports are useless.