HANAN HART

Morocco – During the weeks preceding the Moroccan legislative elections scheduled for 23 September, female candidates and political leaders spoke about being subjected to defamation, incitement, or abuse campaigns via virtual communication platforms, while women's and human rights organizations considered that some of these practices go beyond the limits of political criticism to forms of political and digital violence against women.

Targeting Began Before the Campaign

In the case of Najwa Kkous, the candidate of the Authenticity and Modernity Party in the Anfa district of Casablanca, the targeting she spoke about did not begin with the launch of the election campaign. In a post she published on her Facebook page before the campaign began, she said she was being subjected to a "fierce campaign that violates law and ethics."

She said her pages were subjected to tens of thousands of reports and attempts at restriction, the distortion of one of her statements, and the launching of a wide wave of defamation and attack.

Najwa Kkous linked what she is being subjected to with what she considered a shift in the nature of political conflict, saying that for some, rivalry is no longer about ideas, projects, and ideologies, but has become one in which all means are permissible, including targeting individuals, their trajectories, their families, and their reputations.

She considered that the matter becomes more fierce when it concerns a young woman, and said that women who enter the political field may find themselves facing financial and electronic capabilities they do not possess, in reference to what she described as funded campaigns and pages that are mobilized.

She also spoke about the distortion of statements and the use of technology and artificial intelligence to manufacture what she described as a "false public opinion," considering that the matter is not only about electoral competition, but about the citizen's right to form an opinion based on facts and arguments.

The Federation of the Women's Rights League expressed solidarity with her, considering that the campaign that targeted her employed her personal life, her appearance, her way of expression, and her spontaneity to undermine her image, status, and political legitimacy. But these facts, as presented by Najwa Kkous and the parties in solidarity with her, raise a question that goes beyond the case itself: Where does legitimate political criticism end, and where does targeting a woman because she is a woman begin?

Nabila Mounib... The Campaign Exceeded the Limits of Political Difference

In a similar electoral context, the name of Nabila Mounib, the candidate of the Left Alliance in the Anfa district of Casablanca, emerged. On 14 September, the Left Alliance announced its solidarity with her against the backdrop of what it described as a "systematic defamation and incitement campaign" targeting her via virtual communication sites.

The alliance explained that the campaign exceeded the limits of political difference and touched the person of Nabila Mounib, her dignity, and her private life, considering that some of the discourse circulating against her carries a dimension related to gender.

Amina Maa El-Ainin... Resorting to the Judiciary

As for Amina Maa El-Ainin, the candidate of the Justice and Development Party in the Ain Chock district of Casablanca, she announced her intention to resort to the judiciary regarding what she said were campaigns of defamation and abuse against her.

She spoke about contents that she said included insult, slander, and assault on her dignity, and also pointed to the use of artificial intelligence in some texts or images circulated against her.

She said, in a post on her Facebook page, that throughout her political and activist career she had been keen not to resort to the judiciary in the face of her opponents, despite calls from those close to her and sympathizers to take this step against a number of names and pages.

She announced that she has begun documenting these facts in preparation for taking legal measures, which makes the judicial path part of the developments of the case, while determining responsibilities and facts that can be proven remains the jurisdiction of the competent institutions.

From Individual Cases to Broader Monitoring

The indicators are not limited to the three cases. In July and early August, the National Observatory for Protection from Digital Violence said it had monitored an escalation in the targeting of female election candidates, including insult, slander, defamation, and assault on private life and dignity, in addition to the publication of offensive claims and contents.

In the same context, the Movement for Parity Democracy spoke about the growth of what it described as defamation, denigration, pressure, blackmail, and digital violence directed against female candidates and political leaders, and called for protecting women from defamation, harassment, threats, blackmail, and digital violence.

The Democratic Association of Moroccan Women also said, in its accompaniment of the electoral context, that women's political participation still faces imbalances related to candidacies, political empowerment, and party support, and noted in its observations political violence and the weak presence of women at the head of some local lists.

Violence Does Not Begin on Campaign Day

For Mouna Chemmakh, president of the Anwar Association, the violence that women face in the political field does not necessarily begin with the launch of the election campaign.

Mouna Chemmakh tells our agency that women do not always enter electoral competition under the same conditions as men, and that violence can appear before the campaign through defamation, blackmail, or threats, then take other forms during the competition period. But she draws a line between legitimate political difference and targeting a woman in her person.

She criticized gender discrimination even in the style of criticism. "We have the right to disagree with a woman's program, just as we have the right to disagree with a man's program, and to discuss ideas and positions, but we do not have the right to assault a woman's personal safety, her appearance, her reputation, or her family."

She explains that the problem begins when the discussion moves from the program and positions to the woman herself, to her clothing, appearance, shape, reputation, and family, or when the criticisms include sexual innuendo or insults in the public and digital space.

According to what she confirms, violence does not necessarily lead to a woman's immediate withdrawal from the competition, but it can push her to think about retreating or limit her ability to express freely and independently. It can also send a message to other women who follow the experience and think about entering the political field.

She believes that the problem is not only about what happens to the woman who is targeted, but also about the impact it may have on women who are thinking about entering the political field in the future.

Last June, the Anwar Association, in partnership with a national rights coalition, launched a mechanism for monitoring and reporting violence targeting women involved in public life, including elected officials, candidates, journalists, influencers, and women targeted because of their participation in the public or digital sphere.

Mouna Chemmakh explains that the mechanism follows the stages of before, during, and after the elections, with data to be collected in a later report that monitors recurring patterns and provides recommendations.

She confirms that the short period since the launch of the mechanism does not yet allow for final results or generalizing data to all of Morocco, especially since monitoring depends on the cases that the mechanism was able to reach and document. Preliminary data showed recurring practices, including intimidation and threats, but she confirms that determining the size of the phenomenon nationally requires more monitoring and documentation.

Does Candidacy Become a Personal Cost?

The cases that emerged during this period reveal a paradox worth pausing at. At a time when the elections recorded thousands of women's candidacies, and included electoral arrangements aimed at enhancing women's presence, some female candidates found themselves facing another battle in the digital and public space over their image, reputation, and private lives.

This raises a question that goes beyond these elections themselves: Is it enough to make candidacy available to women to ensure equal political participation, or does equality also require providing an environment in which a woman can defend her program and positions without her gender or private life becoming tools for targeting?

The three previous cases of female candidates do not provide a single answer to this question, nor can they alone measure the size of the phenomenon nationally.

But each one reveals, in its own way, an experience of women who entered electoral competition and found themselves forced to deal, alongside political rivalry, with contents and campaigns they said targeted them on a personal level.

The question raised by these experiences remains bigger than the elections themselves: How can political competition be open to women if the transition from criticizing their ideas and positions to targeting their persons, reputation, and private lives is still possible within the public and digital space?

 

From Defamation to Threats... What Does the Experience of Moroccan Female Candidates Reveal About Political and Digital Violence?

When women enter the field of political competition, the challenge is not always limited to rivalry over programs, positions, and policies. In many cases, disagreement moves to targeting the woman in her person, private life, and reputation.