Tangier Mayor Addresses Allegations and Plans Return
On September 26, 2026, Manir El Limouri, the Mayor of Tangier, spoke with the Moroccan news outlet, “Al-Omq,” revealing his intention to return to Morocco on Monday to clarify his situation before the police in Tangier. This announcement comes in light of recent developments surrounding the controversy of counterfeit voting papers discovered at a polling station in the Jerusalem Institution. El Limouri firmly denied any connection to the incident, asserting that his current presence in Spain is not an attempt to evade Moroccan authorities but rather a result of his professional commitments that frequently require him to engage with Spanish companies.
During the conversation, El Limouri emphasized that the narrative suggesting he was fleeing Morocco is entirely false. He explained that recent electoral duties had previously hindered his ability to travel to Spain. However, due to a scheduled business meeting with clients on Friday morning, he decided to leave Morocco on Thursday evening via the Ceuta border to catch the last ferry, ensuring he arrived on time considering the time difference between the two countries.
He spent the entirety of Friday at his hotel in Spain with his clients, only to be surprised later that evening by news reports claiming he had fled the country and that an international search warrant had been issued against him. In response to these reports, El Limouri promptly contacted officials from the Authenticity and Modernity Party in Tangier to inform them of his planned return to Morocco the following Monday, reiterating that he was currently at his hotel in a normal capacity alongside his clients.
Clarifications Regarding the Voting Incident
El Limouri stated, “On Monday, I will return to Tangier and clarify everything; I am prepared to meet with the public prosecutor or the police,” indicating his willingness to cooperate with the relevant authorities concerning the accusations against him. Regarding the counterfeit voting papers incident at the Jerusalem Institution polling station during the elections on September 23, he categorically denied any involvement, asserting, “I have no connection whatsoever to the incident involving the forged papers.”
The mayor linked the allegations against him to his role as the campaign manager for his party during the recent elections. He reported that on election day, he filed a complaint with the Tangier police regarding what he described as defamation and damage to the party's reputation on social media in light of the Jerusalem incident. His clarifications come at a time when the investigation into the seized electoral papers at the polling center has entered a new phase, expanding to include several individuals, including those responsible for the polling stations, as efforts continue to trace the origins of the papers and identify any potential connections to the incident.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the judicial police in Tangier detained three individuals, one of whom was caught inside the center with two bags containing electoral papers. The number of detainees later increased to five, including a suspect employed in the education sector. The judicial police initiated confrontations among the detainees, and the public prosecutor ordered the main suspect’s custody to extend further, facilitating a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the entry of the electoral papers into the polling center.
As of Saturday, sources indicated that a committee from the Ministry of Interior arrived at the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region headquarters to interview local officials involved in the voting incident, part of the ongoing efforts to clarify the circumstances and assign responsibility. Reports also surfaced indicating that El Limouri’s name, who also served as the campaign director for his party's candidate in Tangier, appeared in police records during the ongoing investigations, leading to the issuance of a national and international search warrant following his departure from Morocco to Spain.
In light of the situation, the public prosecutor at the Tangier Court of Appeal announced the initiation of a judicial investigation into allegations of manipulation at the polling station, prompted by a circulated video showing a glass box containing several white envelopes, aiming to verify the facts and determine the legal outcomes based on the investigation results. Additionally, footage circulating on social media depicted an individual being apprehended inside the polling station with multiple electoral papers in bags, raising widespread controversy regarding the circumstances surrounding the presence of such papers at the center and their relevance to the electoral process.
As reported by al3omk.com.
