The participation of the local population in the electoral process indicates that the autonomy plan is the only solution taking into account the expectations of the inhabitants of the southern provinces, allowing them to democratically elect their legitimate representatives and manage their local affairs in democracy and stability, said the speakers at this meeting, organized by the National Observatory of Voters’ Rights, which has consultative status in the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC).
At this meeting, the speakers also noted that the massive vote of the population of the Moroccan Sahara in the various legislative, communal and local elections last September, which recorded the highest participation rate at the national level, confirms their commitment to the territorial integrity of the Kingdom and the implementation of advanced regionalization and the new development model of the southern provinces.
Speaking on this occasion, the president of the National Observatory of Voter Rights, Khalid Traboulssi said that this symposium aims to enrich the debate on the role of the Sahrawi voter in the virtuous dynamic that the southern regions are experiencing, especially with the implementation of the new model of development of the southern provinces and in the wake of growing international support for the Moroccan Sahara and the autonomy plan as the one and only solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara.
The involvement of the Sahrawi voter in the political process to manage its own local affairs gives concrete expression to the representative legitimacy, consolidates the policy of national unity and exposes the separatist attempts of the enemies of territorial integrity, especially since it confirms the Moroccanness of the Sahara, supported by immutable historical realities, said Traboulssi.
In this line, he said that the involvement in the elections consecutively shows the confidence of the inhabitants of the southern provinces in the institutions of the State, as well as their firm attachment to the homeland and its supreme constants, adding that the organization of these elections guarantees the rights of the population in the democratic management of their local affairs, within the framework of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
For his part, the President of the Communal Council of Laayoune, Moulay Hamdi Ould Errachid, welcomed the record turnout recorded in the southern provinces in the legislative, communal and local polls last September, noting that these elections were welcomed by the international community.
The collective adherence to this political process reflects the confidence of the people of the southern provinces in the development of their country and confirms their commitment to the territorial integrity of the Kingdom, said Ould Errachid.
