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Social Media in Morocco: From Grassroots Activism to Electoral Campaigns
[working paper]
Corporate Editor
German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) - Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien, Institut für Nahost-Studien
Abstract The Moroccan elections of September 2021 were unusual for various reasons. As electoral campaigning took place under pandemic circumstances, social media played a role previously unseen and contributed significantly to the unexpected victory of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), a liberal par... view more
The Moroccan elections of September 2021 were unusual for various reasons. As electoral campaigning took place under pandemic circumstances, social media played a role previously unseen and contributed significantly to the unexpected victory of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), a liberal party, against the Justice and Development Party (PJD), an Islamist party.
The use of social media for campaigning purposes is not a completely new phenomenon in Morocco, given its prominent use by numerous social movements in the past. However, social media became a game-changer during the last elections.
Considering the COVID-19 measures imposed, political parties shifted much of their campaigning online. Today, online spaces are no longer exclusively used by grassroots activists but have become increasingly popular among Moroccan political parties.
While political parties converged in resorting to online spaces to compensate for the restrictions on offline campaigns, they diverged in their approaches; additionally, not all parties have the same financial capacity to exploit the full potential of social media. The huge disproportion in resources invested in online platforms was a main contributor to the victory of the RNI and the unexpected electoral wipeout of the PJD.
To ensure equal opportunities for all involved political actors, a more effective legal framework is needed to guarantee the transparency and fair funding of digital electoral campaigns. This can be achieved by strengthening those institutions already in place and developing new ways to monitor the use of online media during elections.... view less
Keywords
Morocco; media; politics; information; election; media consumption; election campaign; social media; new media; Internet; party; effect; impact; election result; voting; digitalization; funding
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Interactive, electronic Media
Free Keywords
COVID-19; Pandemie
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
City
Hamburg
Page/Pages
10 p.
Series
GIGA Focus Nahost, 4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57671/gfme-22042
ISSN
1862-3611
Status
Published Version; reviewed