House of Representatives Elects Its Speaker Today: Azami vs Touizi

The first chamber of the Moroccan Parliament, the House of Representatives, holds a plenary sitting today, Tuesday 13 October, at 3 p.m. to elect its new speaker, at the call of the head of the House's provisional bureau, four days after King Mohammed VI chaired the opening ceremony of the first legislative session of the new legislative year on Friday 9 October, in accordance with Article 65 of the Constitution.

The race for the House's top post pits Driss Azami El Idrissi, head of the Justice and Development Party group in the lower house, against Ahmed Touizi, the majority's candidate from the Authenticity and Modernity Party. The vote comes with a House that emerged from the 23 September 2026 elections, topped by the PAM with 97 seats, while the PJD came fourth with 54 seats. The winner succeeds Rachid Talbi Alami, who chaired the lower house during the outgoing term.

The majority has not yet settled its positions

While the Istiqlal, the PJD and the Socialist Union of Popular Forces settled on the heads of their parliamentary groups before the opening session, the PAM, the National Rally of Independents, the Popular Movement and the Party of Progress and Socialism are still waiting for the results of the consultations led by Fatima Zahra Mansouri, the designated head of government, to form the governing majority. The minimum required to set up a parliamentary group, set at twenty deputies under the House's rules of procedure, also forces smaller parties to seek alliances to secure wider representation in the chamber.

Why this vote matters

The sitting is particularly important as the first internal vote of the House in its new legislative term: the elected speaker will chair the lower house's proceedings for the next five years, set the agenda of legislative sittings, and oversee relations between government and parliament at a time when the shape of the new governing majority and parliamentary opposition is still forming. The speakership also gives its holder a prominent protocol position in the state, and a role in representing the lower house in international parliamentary forums and inter-parliamentary relations.

If the opposition candidate wins, it would be an early sign of the balance of power inside the lower house before the governing majority is fully formed, at a time when parties with large electoral weight such as the National Rally of Independents and the Popular Movement are still awaiting the results of government-formation consultations before settling their position on this vote.