Morocco’s 2026 election campaign moves from rallies to algorithm-driven politics

Morocco’s 2026 parliamentary election campaign is unfolding across two increasingly interconnected arenas: the physical spaces where candidates meet voters and the digital platforms where political messages circulate at high speed.

With parliamentary elections scheduled for September 23, parties are using rallies, doorstep campaigning, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp to reach different segments of the electorate. At the same time, artificial intelligence, targeted advertising and increasingly sophisticated digital production are changing how political communication is designed and distributed.

The transformation does not mean that traditional campaigning has disappeared. Instead, Morocco’s electoral landscape is combining established forms of political mobilization with a digital environment that is becoming more professionalized and more closely regulated.

From campaign rallies to targeted communication

Younès Daife, a university professor and head of the communication department at ENCG-Fès, describes the evolution as a shift from broad political communication toward increasingly targeted messaging.

According to Daife, Moroccan parties have moved beyond using social networks simply to reproduce images from rallies. Digital platforms are increasingly treated as strategic communication channels where content can be adapted according to audiences, formats and online engagement.

This evolution has also encouraged political organizations to rely more heavily on specialized communication agencies. Campaign teams are increasingly concerned with managing the public image of candidates online, producing platform-specific content and monitoring how messages perform.

The change is visible in the current campaign. Media24 reported that several major parties were already investing in advertising on Meta platforms before the official campaign began. Between August 9 and September 7, the Meta Ad Library recorded more than $133,000 in advertising expenditure by the RNI, compared with more than $22,000 for the PAM, $14,000 for the Istiqlal Party and more than $6,000 for the USFP. These figures cover only advertising identified on Meta and do not measure the overall cost or effectiveness of any campaign.

The official electoral campaign began on September 10 and runs through September 22, ahead of the September 23 vote.

Digital campaigning has not replaced the ground game

Despite the rapid expansion of digital communication, traditional political organizing remains important.

Morocco’s House of Representatives has 395 seats, with 305 elected through local constituencies and 90 through a national constituency. The structure of the electoral system gives local political networks an important role in campaigning and voter mobilization.

Daife argues that face-to-face contact continues to matter because political trust is not distributed equally across generations or communities. Older and rural voters may be less engaged with political content online, while local networks can provide forms of personal contact that digital advertising cannot fully reproduce.

Door-to-door visits, local meetings and community networks therefore continue alongside social media campaigns rather than being replaced by them.

The result is a hybrid campaign in which a rally can generate video clips for TikTok, a political speech can be repackaged for Instagram and a local encounter can subsequently circulate through private messaging groups.

Short videos reshape political communication

One of the most visible changes is the growing use of short-form video.

Reels and TikTok allow politicians to communicate directly with audiences without relying exclusively on television appearances, formal speeches or conventional campaign posters. Political figures can address users through brief, informal videos designed for mobile screens.

Daife describes this trend as a form of political communication that makes leaders appear less distant from voters. But he also warns that the format can reduce complicated policy questions to highly compressed messages.

The tension is straightforward: short videos can make political issues easier to access, but they also leave less room to explain the costs, limitations and consequences of proposed policies.

The challenge is particularly relevant during an election in which parties are presenting programmes covering issues such as employment, education, healthcare, purchasing power and public services.

Artificial intelligence moves into the campaign back office

Artificial intelligence is another emerging component of electoral communication.

According to Daife, its role is often less visible to voters than conventional campaign technology. AI tools can assist communication teams with monitoring online discussions, generating variations of written or visual material and producing multilingual content.

The use of automated systems can also extend to voter-facing services. Chatbots and messaging tools, for example, can provide information about party programmes or practical electoral questions.

These developments are accompanied by growing concerns over personal data and the potential misuse of automated communication.

The regulatory environment has consequently evolved alongside the technology.

Morocco tightens rules on AI and electoral misinformation

The High Authority for Audiovisual Communication has introduced specific rules for the 2026 electoral period. Its Decision No. 50-26 prohibits audiovisual broadcasters from airing electoral material generated or altered through AI when it could mislead the public or undermine the integrity of the electoral debate.

AI-generated or modified material may be used for information, explanation or verification, but its artificial nature must be clearly identified.

The regulator has also placed the fight against electoral misinformation at the center of its framework for the September vote. Its guidance covers political pluralism, airtime allocation, editorial impartiality and measures intended to protect the public from misleading information.

Separately, Article 51-bis, introduced through Organic Law 53.25, addresses the dissemination of fake news, false allegations and falsified material in the electoral context, including content disseminated through digital technologies. The provision also covers material capable of undermining confidence in the credibility and transparency of elections.

The regulatory response reflects a broader reality: campaigns are no longer confined to speeches, posters and television. Political communication increasingly takes place inside an environment where synthetic audio, manipulated images and rapidly shared messages can reach audiences before conventional verification mechanisms respond.

WhatsApp adds a private dimension

Among the major platforms used during the campaign, WhatsApp occupies a particular position because political messages can travel through existing personal relationships.

A political message shared by a relative, colleague, neighbor or friend may be received differently from a conventional advertisement originating directly from a party. Daife describes this mechanism as a form of trust-based political sponsorship.

Voice messages in Moroccan Arabic, particularly darija, can also create a more conversational relationship between campaign organizations and potential voters.

This does not make WhatsApp an alternative to rallies or public advertising. Rather, it adds a private layer to political communication, allowing campaign material to circulate through family, professional and community networks.

Language becomes part of the campaign strategy

Language is another important element of political messaging in Morocco.

According to Daife, darija has become particularly effective for communication designed to establish proximity with voters. Modern Standard Arabic retains its institutional role, while the growing presence of Amazigh in political communication reflects its constitutional and cultural significance.

French, meanwhile, is less prominent in mass electoral communication than in many institutional or elite settings, according to the analysis provided by Daife.

The choice of language therefore becomes more than a stylistic decision. It can influence who feels addressed by a political message and how close a candidate appears to different audiences.

The credibility challenge

The expansion of digital campaigning also creates a fundamental problem: the easier it becomes to produce political content, the harder it can become for voters to distinguish authentic material from manipulated information.

Daife points to fake accounts, coordinated online activity, manipulated videos and cloned voices as potential sources of confusion. The risk is not limited to a single false statement. Repeated exposure to contradictory or manipulated content can make it harder for citizens to establish what is authentic.

Morocco’s electoral rules and HACA’s audiovisual framework are responding to part of this challenge, particularly where misleading AI-generated content and election-related misinformation are concerned.

But regulation alone does not resolve the broader problem of verification in private messaging networks and rapidly changing social-media environments.

A technologically modern campaign with traditional foundations

Morocco’s 2026 election campaign illustrates a transition rather than a complete break with the past.

Political parties are using more sophisticated digital tools, investing in platform-specific advertising and experimenting with AI-assisted communication. Yet rallies, local candidates, personal networks and face-to-face contact remain central to the electoral process.

The coexistence of these methods is likely to define the campaign's communication landscape: a candidate may speak at a local meeting in the morning, appear in a short video by afternoon and become the subject of a WhatsApp discussion that evening.

The technology has changed the speed, reach and format of political communication. The underlying contest for voters' attention and trust, however, still takes place both online and on the ground.