Ismail Zitouni

Ismail Zitouni
إسماعيل الزيتوني
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 2021–2026
Constituency	Inezgane-Aït Melloul
Personal details
Born	(1974-08-28) 28 August 1974 Taroudant, Morocco
Nationality	Moroccan
Political party	National Rally of Independents (RNI) (until 2026)
Children	3
Occupation	Company manager, politician, sports administrator

Ismail Zitouni (; born 28 August 1974) is a Moroccan politician, businessman and sports administrator. He represented the Inezgane-Aït Melloul constituency in the House of Representatives from 2021 to 2026, elected for the National Rally of Independents (RNI). He is the président délégué (executive chairman) of the football club Olympique Dcheira (OD) and chaired the Central Medical Commission of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), on whose executive board he sat. In 2025 he chaired the local organising committee for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Agadir.

Early life and family

Zitouni was born in Taroudant. He is married and has three children. He is based in the Agadir–Inezgane area of the Souss-Massa region.

Business career

By profession he is a company manager. His professional profile says he has worked in business in Agadir since 2006.

Local politics

Zitouni sat on the municipal council of Dcheira El Jihadia from 2009 to 2015.

Sports administration

Olympique Dcheira

Zitouni has been président délégué of Olympique Dcheira, based in Dcheira El Jihadia near Agadir, since January 2015. The club's president is Mohamed Aflah. The press often describes Zitouni as the club's head.

During his tenure the club won the inaugural Moroccan Excellence Cup in June 2025 and was promoted to the Botola Pro, the top flight of Moroccan football, for the first time in its history. He speaks publicly for the club, for example on the appointment of a new head coach after the departure of Abderrahim Saidi. According to Médias24, in July 2026 US Amal Tiznit won promotion to the top flight through a play-off against Olympique Dcheira on 21 July. The club then played in the Botola Pro 2.

In April 2025 he took part in a regional conference on sports supporter culture organised by the Souss-Massa regional authorities in Agadir.

Royal Moroccan Football Federation

Zitouni has been a federal member of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and president of its medical commission since April 2014, according to his professional profile. Official FRMF communiqués of 30 October 2016 and 13 February 2017 describe him as a member of the federation's executive board (bureau directeur) and president of the Central Medical Commission. He was also reported chairing the commission in February 2018.

The commission's agenda under his chairmanship included:

• structuring sports medicine within the federation;
• anti-doping control;
• continuing medical training;
• the compulsory medical file for players and referees;
• the plans for and progress of a sports medicine centre at the Mohammed VI Football Complex in Maâmora;
• players' insurance;
• the medical section of the specifications for professional clubs;
• the medical coverage of the 2018 African Nations Championship in Morocco.

The commission also sent representatives to a CAF medical conference in Cairo in October 2016.

In an April 2017 interview with Assabah, he said the commission had been strengthened and that a new rule obliged clubs to keep a medical file for each player. He also said that doping laboratory analyses for all federations, including the FRMF, had been transferred to the National Olympic Committee, leaving the commission with an awareness role. In May 2017, Al Ahdath Al Maghribia reported that FRMF president Fouzi Lekjaa intended to put forward five federation figures for CAF commissions, including Zitouni, subject to approval by the federation's board.

He is not among the board members named after Lekjaa's re-election for a third term (reported in 2022).

2025 Africa Cup of Nations

In autumn 2025, Lekjaa, as president of the FRMF and of the tournament's local organising committee, appointed Zitouni, then a member of parliament, president of the local organising committee for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Agadir. Local media said the choice reflected his experience in running sport locally and nationally. The committee was responsible for organisational, logistical and media aspects of the tournament in Agadir, whose Adrar Stadium hosted several matches between 21 December 2025 and 18 January 2026.

In December 2025 Zitouni took part in a briefing in Agadir with the wali of Souss-Massa, Saïd Amzazi, the regional council president and other officials, on the progress of sports infrastructure works and the reception of fans. During the tournament, the wali visited the stadium and praised the committee's work. Zitouni thanked the volunteers and other participants and said Agadir's success was the result of careful preparation and collective effort.

Controversies

Several incidents at the Agadir venue drew media criticism:

• Ticketing and crowding. After the Egypt–South Africa match, which drew more than 40,000 spectators, the local committee issued a statement saying entry to the stadium required a valid ticket and that the capacity set by CAF could not be exceeded. Other outlets described attempts to enter the stands without tickets, including by climbing walls, and said the committee also ended free bus transport for fans.
• Volunteers' meals. Several volunteers complained about the quality of the meals supplied to them. One report said some refused to accept them; another said the catering company corrected the problem afterwards.
• Criticism of the committee. On 30 December 2025, the news site Telegraphe.ma, citing unnamed sources, reported that the committee's president had angered a number of officials over organisational failings, including the ticketing chaos at the Egypt–South Africa match, complaints about press accreditation and the volunteers' meals. The report was not confirmed by any named official or by the FRMF in the sources reviewed.

Political career

2021 election

Zitouni led the RNI list in the Inezgane-Aït Melloul constituency, which elects three members, at the 8 September 2021 legislative elections and won a seat. He sat in the RNI parliamentary group and, at the end of the legislature, was a member of the Social Sectors Committee. His public social media presentation describes him as a member of parliament for the constituency.

Electoral history

Moroccan legislative elections use closed-list proportional representation, so voters choose a party list and not an individual candidate. The figures below are therefore list totals, and Zitouni's own total is that of the list he headed.

Inezgane-Aït Melloul constituency (3 seats)

Year	List / party	Head of list	Votes	Share	Seats
2021	RNI	Ismail Zitouni	22,975	31.97%	1
	Istiqlal	Khalid Chennak	10,577	14.72%	1
2026	RNI	Omar Amine (Zitouni not a candidate)	about 7,200	not available	0

In 2021, Zitouni's list finished first, ahead of Istiqlal and PAM in the semi-final count. The 2021 vote totals come from a compilation of official results.

In 2026, the RNI list led by Omar Amine finished fourth, with 7,214 votes in one count and 7,220 in a later compilation, and won no seat. That is roughly a third of the 2021 RNI list's total. The PAM list won the third seat by a margin of 379 votes over the RNI.

2026 results in Inezgane-Aït Melloul

Party	Head of list	Votes	Seat
PJD	Ahmed Adraq	15,474	Yes
Istiqlal	Khalid Chennak	7,656	Yes
PAM	Mohamed Oudmine	7,594	Yes
RNI	Omar Amine	7,214	No

Figures are from an early count; a later compilation gives 15,522 (PJD), 7,667 (Istiqlal) and 7,220 (RNI). Nationally, the RNI fell from 102 seats in 2021 to 66 in the 2026 Moroccan general election, while the PAM came first with 97.

Parliamentary questions

Most of Zitouni's reported parliamentary activity consists of written questions to ministers. Many concern public services in the Inezgane-Aït Melloul prefecture, and a few concern regional infrastructure:

• Health: He asked Health Minister Khalid Aït Taleb how the ministry would staff the provincial hospital of Inezgane with an obstetrician-gynaecologist and additional anaesthetists. He said the shortage forced pregnant women to travel to other cities, and that the hospital serves more than 640,000 people.
• Education: He asked Education Minister Chakib Benmoussa what would be done to build public schools in several districts of Aït Melloul that had none. He said children aged 5 to 12 had to travel long distances to school.
• Local transport: In November 2024 he asked the Interior Minister about weak public transport in the Azrou district of Aït Melloul, which hosts a university campus with several faculties.
• Taxis: He raised the difficulties caused by the Interior Ministry's requirement that taxi licence holders provide a life certificate. He said the measure aimed to stop misuse of licences but had disrupted the sector.
• Rail: In October 2024 he asked the Minister of Transport and Logistics about the ministry's plans to extend the railway line to Agadir. He described the extension as a strategic project for transport, trade and tourism.
• Addiction and social issues: In a question to the Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration and the Family, he warned about rising drug addiction and the use of hallucinogenic pills, especially among young people. He also cited growing violence in schools and public spaces.

2026 elections and party affiliation

In spring 2026, Assabah reported that the RNI had declined to re-endorse Zitouni for the September 2026 legislative elections in Inezgane-Aït Melloul, giving the list to Omar Amine instead. It said he was the only RNI member of parliament in Souss-Massa not to be re-endorsed. After the elections, Al3omk noted that he was absent from the race after not being renominated.

In August 2026, media outlets reported, citing a source close to Zitouni, that he denied rumours of a move to the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), and that his ties with RNI president Aziz Akhannouch remained strong. On 26 August 2026, however, Médias24 wrote that he had joined the PAM.

Zitouni's parliamentary term ended with the 2021–2026 legislature.

Personal life

Zitouni is married and has three children.

External links

• Facebook page
• Professional profile on LinkedIn

References

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