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News release

Morocco’s institutions improve on perceived corruption and public trust, Afrobarometer survey shows

24 Feb 2022 Morocco
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News release
Key findings
  • While fewer than four in 10 Moroccans say they trust their political leaders “somewhat” or “a lot,” these trust levels represent improvements after drastic declines between 2015 and 2018. For example, the proportion of respondents who express trust in the prime minister has doubled to 36%, after dropping from 43% to 18% in 2018; 35% say they trust members of Parliament (MPs), up from 13% after falling from 30% in 2015; and 37% trust local government councillors, double the proportion recorded in 2018 (18%) after a decline from 29% in 2015 (Figure 1).
  • Perceptions of official corruption moved in the opposite direction, improving across the board after mixed performances in 2018. About three in 10 Moroccans say “most” or “all” MPs (32%) and local government councillors (30%) are corrupt. About one in four say the same about the Office of the Prime Minister (23%) and civil servants (24%) (Figure 2).
  • The proportion of citizens who say that corruption in the country increased “somewhat” or “a lot” over the past year declined by 16 percentage points from 26% in 2015 to 42%. Still, only 22% believe that corruption decreased (Figure 3).
  • Almost half (48%) of citizens say people risk retaliation or other negative consequences if they report incidents of corruption. While this reflects a 10- percentage-point decrease from 2018, the share who think people can safely report corruption remains at about half (51%) (Figure 4).

Fewer Moroccans see their key public institutions as corrupt and more express trust in them than three years ago, according to the latest Afrobarometer survey.

Popular trust in institutions and leaders increased across the board after suffering a sharp decline in the previous survey round. Trust in the Royal Army, the police, and religious leaders continued to far outpace trust in political leaders.

Perceptions of widespread corruption in key institutions moved in the opposite direction, declining across the board. Even so, substantial minorities see political leaders as corrupt, and only one in five citizens think corruption decreased over the past year. About half of Moroccans say people risk retaliation if they report corruption to the authorities.