After youth protests, Morocco promises major social spending, new hospitals, and incentives for under-35s to join politics.
The Moroccan government on Sunday announced a set of measures aimed at encouraging young people to engage in politics and pledging social reforms amid youth-led protests, state media reported.
A draft finance bill for 2026 would improve social services, including public education and healthcare — two key sectors which demonstrators have urged the government to reform, news agency MAP said.
Another draft bill aimed to further sokonnect engagement in public life by inviting “people younger than 35 to enter politics”, MAP said.
Morocco pledges reforms to empower youth
This would mean easing eligibility rules for young candidates running in elections with financial incentives covering up to 75 percent of campaign expenses, the report added.
Another bill seeks to enhance the roles of political parties, improve their transparency, and help more women and young people join or found them, MAP said.
The reforms came as part of a broader government push to bolster “partisan action” in Morocco “so that it can adapt to the profound changes that society is experiencing”, the report added, citing the royal cabinet.
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Social inequalities remain a major challenge in Morocco, where deep regional disparities persist alongside a gap between the public and private sectors.
In a royal address in July, King Mohammed VI had said that there was “no place for a Morocco moving at two speeds”.
The monarch had already urged the government to have sweeping reforms to social services adopted by the end of this year.
GenZ 212 protests
Youth protests took the usually stable kingdom by surprise late last month, following the deaths of eight pregnant women at a hospital in the major city of Agadir.
The online-based movement calling itself “GenZ 212” later expanded its demands to include changing the current government and ending corruption.
The government said it would prioritise social spending next year, with nearly $13 million allocated to health and education, and create over 27,000 jobs in those sectors, MAP reported.
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The government has announced that new university hospitals are set to open, including in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, while 90 hospitals will be renovated.
In education, authorities plan to expand the pre-school system and provide further support for students while improving teaching quality, MAP reported.
The monarch in an address to parliament on October 10 also urged lawmakers to focus on the country’s most disadvantaged areas in rural and mountainous parts of the kingdom.
Health and education budget risen by 65%
Morocco’s budget for health and education had already risen by 65 percent between 2021 and 2025, Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch told parliament in July.
Official figures show a lack of education in Morocco is a key driver of the country’s poverty, which has, nevertheless, fallen from nearly 12 percent of the population in 2014 to 6.8 percent in 2024.
