Election accounts: More than 360 million Dirhams spent by candidates

In addition to the finances of the parties, the Court of Auditors also looked into the declarations of the representatives of the candidate lists during the last elections. The total resources declared for these elections amounted to 365.69 million dirhams (US$ 36 million). This amount is made up of 70% of the own resources contributed by the candidates. The remaining 30% were granted by certain parties. These funds are split between the elections of the House of Representatives (209.85 million Dirhams), those of the 2nd Chamber, the House of Councilors (11.65 million Dirhams), and those of the councils of local authorities (144.19 million Dirhams). The total expenditure declared by the representatives of the lists, meanwhile, amounted to 360.16 million dirhams (US $ 36 million).. As regards the production of accounts, out of the 5,146 representatives of lists and candidates, 4,545 filed their election campaign report, that is to say 88%. Nevertheless, of this total, 42%, i.e. 1,930 candidates, submitted such election campaign reports after the legal deadline. This concerns 673 candidates for the House of Representatives, 28 for the House of Councilors, and 1,229 for the councils of local authorities. At the same time, 12% of candidates did not comply with the obligation to file their accounts (601 agents). This concerns elections to the First Chamber (230), to the Second Chamber (10), to regional councils (176), to municipal councils (180), and to prefectural and provincial councils (5). Other candidates did not draw up their accounts in accordance with the standard models set by decree (8%). As for the obligation to open a bank account dedicated to the resources and expenses of their campaigns, 29% of the list representatives did not comply. The Court of Auditors also specified that all of the list representatives and candidates who filed their accounts provided detailed data on the sources of financing, with the exception of 3. The Court of Auditors noted the absence of proof of exceeding the legal cap on election expenses. Nevertheless, the Court of Auditors pointed out shortcomings in terms of justification of expenditure. This concerns an amount of 12.25 million dirhams (US$ 1.22 million), i.e. 3.4% of the declared expenditures. These include expenses not supported by supporting documents (11.79 million dirhams for 272 list representatives), and expenses not relating to election campaigns (456,948 dirhams for 10 agents).

 M.A.M.