Morocco closed last year with a positive trend in terms of democratic quality. While the countries of the region are sinking into increasingly authoritarian regimes, Rabat is improving the level of its political system. This is reflected in the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual report in its Democracy Index 2023, which ranks Morocco as the second best democracy in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.

Morocco improved its democratic quality in 2023

The report classifies Morocco as a 'hybrid regime', with an overall score of 5.04 out of 10, making it above average for such systems. These data reflect an improvement compared to the year 2022, moving Morocco up two places in the international ranking, in which the Alawi kingdom ranks 93 out of 167.

This study is based on five fundamental categories for the study of democratic systems: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of the government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties. One of the areas in which Morocco has improved the most is the electoral process (5.25 out of 10), despite the fact that the report itself notes the still strong influence of the Moroccan Royal Court in the election of the president.

Even so, the report acknowledges the progress of the system and the reforms that allowed for free and fair parliamentary elections to be held in 2021. This aspect is in turn boosted by the 5.56 score obtained by Moroccans in the field of political participation, which is explained by the increase in turnout in the 2021 elections, when it reached 50%, almost eight points higher than in 2016.

The Moroccan system's great weakness lies in the social aspect. With a score of 4.12 for civil liberties, Rabat wants to improve this mark, which, although it is one of the biggest blemishes on the Moroccan record, is growing with respect to previous editions, and is expected to continue to do so in future reports.

Democracy in a sea of authoritarian regimes

Morocco represents one of the few systems that are not only democratic, but increasingly so. Only Tunisia, in 82nd place, is higher in the Economist Intelligence Unit's report. Behind Tunisia and Morocco are countries in the region such as Mauritania (108th), Algeria (110th), Qatar (111th), Lebanon (112th) and Kuwait (114th).

Algeria is one of the worst performers in this report. While trying to compete with Morocco for regional leadership, the country led by Abdelmajdid Tebboune is left out of the world's top 100 democracies, further increasing the already existing doubts about Algeria's democratic quality.

Globally, the number of "full democracies" remains the same as in the previous report, at 24. However, there is great concern about the growing level of instability among major powers, in addition to the numerous regional wars that roil the international landscape. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been joined by the escalation of tension in Gaza and the subsequent spread to the Red Sea with the Iranian-armed and funded Houthis in Yemen launching attacks.

And, according to this report, the problem, though greatest in non-democratic countries, is not limited to them. It also points to the difficulties that democratic countries are facing in dealing with these episodes of instability, which represents one of the greatest international security concerns.