On 27 September 2002, 13 million Moroccans were called to the polls in order to elect their 325-member lower chamber (Majlis an-Nawwah) for the next five years. A new government was to be formed, and for the first time in Moroccan history the scrutiny of legislative elections appeared to signify the re-election or rejection of a government in office. Earlier in the year, the Moroccan ministries of the interior and communication started a massive public relations campaign, in which citizens were asked to participate in the first completely ‘free and fair’ elections, in order to consolidate ‘Moroccan democracy’. For many observers, the fairness of the elections was the main concern, after a history of election rigging under the former all-powerful minister of the interior, Driss Basri. Some 5,000 individuals from politically active non-governmental organizations formed an independent observer network, which supervised the process and published its findings in a report. Through the monarch’s repeated direct interference, ‘free and fair’ elections seemed to become a new basis for the monarchy’s legitimacy. Significantly, it was the first parliamentary elections under the rule of Mohamed VI. The time and energy devoted to the organization of the elections under the auspices of interior minister, Driss Jettou, was impressive. First, eligible Moroccans were called to register on electoral lists. Second, in May 2002 a new election code, replacing individual candidates with lists, was drafted by an inter-ministerial commission, and shortly afterwards passed and promulgated. This was aimed at strengthening the structures of political parties and their function to formulate political programmes, as well as countering the practice of election rigging through vote buying, a phenomenon that had been widespread in the previous legislative elections. Seats were distributed according to the principle of the ‘most important rest’ (scrutin du liste a la proportionnelle et aux plus forts restes), a system of proportional representation replacing the old first-past-the-post system. In each constituency, an electoral quotient was calculated, which became the basis for the distribution of one seat. If the strongest party obtained one seat,