Direct voting is now a manifesto commitment
PJD’s clearest pledge is to move beyond the proxy arrangement used for the 23 September election. Voting and candidacy from abroad would give practical effect to political rights that many diaspora organisations argue remain incomplete.
The manifesto does not yet settle the difficult design questions: voter registration, identity checks, overseas constituencies, polling stations or remote voting, electoral disputes and the distribution of seats. The political destination is clear; the legal and operational route is not fully mapped.
A named authority and a digital access point
A dedicated government department could make responsibility for diaspora policy easier to identify. The proposed digital one-stop shop is equally relevant to daily life, particularly when a case crosses consular, administrative, judicial and property-related services.
PJD also wants a platform cataloguing Moroccan professionals abroad and involving them in sectoral policymaking. Its value will depend on execution. Selection rules, specific assignments, safeguards against conflicts of interest and feedback on how advice shaped policy would be needed to prevent it from becoming another static database.
Where the offer remains thin
The wider manifesto addresses business, taxation, healthcare and social protection. Yet a national policy that may benefit returnees is not the same as a cross-border mechanism designed for citizens who live under two legal and social-security systems.
The public material reviewed by MMNEWS does not provide comparably detailed measures on pension and health-insurance portability, bilateral social agreements, diaspora savings products, investor grievance procedures or a full return-and-resettlement pathway. PJD’s political offer is therefore ahead of its economic and social one.
MMNEWS scorecard
| Criterion | Weight | PJD score | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Political participation and voting | 15% | 15% | Direct voting from the country of residence |
| Parliamentary representation | 10% | 9% | Overseas candidacy promised; seat design unresolved |
| Consular and administrative services | 10% | 10% | Dedicated department and digital one-stop shop |
| Investment and entrepreneurship | 20% | 8% | Broad national measures, few diaspora-specific tools |
| Savings and remittances | 10% | 3% | No sufficiently detailed diaspora mechanism |
| Pensions and social protection | 10% | 4% | General social policy, limited cross-border specificity |
| Return and resettlement | 10% | 4% | No complete return pathway identified |
| Younger generations, language and culture | 5% | 5% | National identity explicitly protected |
| Mobilising diaspora expertise | 10% | 10% | Dedicated skills platform and policy involvement |
| TOTAL | 100% | 68% | Final score based on material public by 9 September |
MMNEWS verdict
PJD now has a coherent diaspora offer on citizenship, representation and access to government. What it still lacks is an equally operational cross-border package for money, social rights and return. The next credibility test is a timetable: which laws and systems would be changed, and when, to make overseas voting possible?
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