Legislative elections of 2021: remarkable success of the RNI, spectacular defeat of the PJD

On Sep 9, 2021

After counting 96 percent of the ballots, the National Rally of Independents (RNI) won the elections for members of the House of Representatives held on Wednesday, while the Justice and Development Party (PJD) suffered a severe loss.

After two terms at the head of the government and 125 members in the House of Representatives in 2016, the PJD was only able to gain twelve seats in this election, putting it in eighth position.

This is the PJD’s lowest vote total since its debut appearance in the 1997 elections, when it won nine seats.

The RNI, on the other hand, took a giant step forward by gaining more than double the seats it won in 2016 (37 seats), establishing itself as the most powerful political force in the country.

Furthermore, despite losing 20 seats in Parliament, the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) was able to maintain its second-place finish from the 2016 elections, despite dropping from 102 to 82 seats.

In contrast, the Istiqlal Party (PI) maintained third place with a significant rise in seats, confirming its status as a major challenger by gaining 78 seats compared to 46 in 2016.

The same can be said for the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), which nearly doubled its share of seats from 18 in 2016 to 35 in 2018, allowing it to claim fourth place and signaling his return to politics.

With a total of 26 seats, the Popular Movement (MP) maintained its fifth place.

The Party for Progress and Socialism (PPS) climbed two places to sixth place with 20 seats, up from eighth place with 12 seats in 2016, while the Constitutional Union (UC) retained its first-place position with 18 MPs, up from 19 in 2016.

As a result of the election results, a new political landscape has emerged, and the government formation scenario is now open to all possibilities.

The parliamentary, regional, and municipal elections on September 8 were held in regular conditions and in accordance with the Covid-19 pandemic’s preventative measures. The nationwide participation percentage in these surveys was 50.35 percent, up to 42 percent in 2016.