Mounir Laymouri's Sudden Departure
Mounir Laymouri, the mayor of Tangier and a prominent figure in the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), has fled to Spain with his family after learning he was under investigation for electoral fraud related to the elections held last Wednesday. This alarming revelation comes from Moroccan state media, highlighting the seriousness of the allegations against the mayor, who leads Tangier, Morocco's second-largest city with a population of approximately 1.2 million inhabitants. The metropolitan area, under Laymouri's governance, is recognized as the most industrialized region in the country, trailing only behind Casablanca.
Legal Troubles and Investigations
The Attorney General of Tangier issued a national arrest warrant for the 52-year-old mayor following his disappearance when judicial police visited his residence for questioning. Reports suggest that Laymouri departed the country by boat late Thursday evening, eluding the authorities. The investigation began after an individual attempted to cast fraudulent PAM ballots at the Al Qods polling station in the Casabarata neighborhood. This act of electoral misconduct led to the detention of the perpetrator and four accomplices, who, during initial interrogations, implicated Laymouri as the mastermind behind the attempted fraud. In addition to judicial inquiries, the Ministry of the Interior has initiated a separate investigation, dispatching a team to Tangier on Saturday to assess the situation further.
The PAM, founded in 2008 by a royal advisor, had previously secured victories in Moroccan legislative elections but faced significant setbacks in Tangier, where it garnered only 13,687 votes—falling short of the Justice and Development Party, the moderate Islamist party that received nearly double the votes at 25,886. Notably, despite the disparity in vote counts, both parties ended up with the same number of parliamentary seats in Tangier, highlighting the inequities of the electoral system.
Historically, many Moroccans have sought refuge in Spain when facing legal troubles or political pressures at home. Laymouri's flight follows a long list of notable cases, including that of Moulay Zine Zahidi, president of Crédit Immobilier et Hôtelier, who fled in 2001, and Hicham Bouchti, a member of the riot police, who escaped in 2009. In 2018, comedian Bachir Skiredj also fled to Málaga after inadvertently discussing the private life of King Mohammed VI in a video recording. Each of these individuals found temporary or permanent sanctuary in Spain, although Hicham Mandari, who threatened to blackmail the Moroccan royal family, was tragically murdered in 2004.
As reported by elconfidencial.com.
