In the Moroccan institutional life, the parliamentary system has always been the fruit of joint claims between the monarchy and the national movement, both of which believed in the virtues of the representative system and in the establishment of a democratic constitutional Monarchy. Accordingly, a two-house system (unicameralism and bicameralism) has been adopted since 1963. These two forms of representation have always been present whether manifested in two houses or just one.  The first Moroccan parliament was based on the bicameral system; it was made up of the House of Representatives and the House of Cousellors.

The House of Representatives was elected by direct universal suffrage for a four-year term. It represented the whole nation.

The House of counsellors was elected by indirect universal suffrage for a six-year term. Two thirds of it was elected by an electoral college composed of communal councils and one third was elected by a college composed of representatives of professional chambers and trade unions.

This brief legislature ended up in a failure after twenty months. Many factors such as the weakness of the government majority, the power of the opposition, splits, various stakes and general discontent, combined with the lack of experience in democracy practice made this young experience a failure which led, after the Casablanca events, to proclaiming the state of exception which lasted from 1965 to 1970 until a new fundamental law was adopted.

The constitution of July 30, 1970 abandoned the bicameral system and adopted the single house system. Nevertheless, although the parliamentary structure became single at the institutional level, it remained plural in its composition. The House of Representatives was elected for a six-year term: one third was elected by direct universal suffrage and two thirds by indirect universal suffrage by colleges representing communal councils, professional chambers and wage earners.

Subsequent legislatures: those of 1977, 1984 and 1993 were unicameral. two thirds of the House of Representatives, elected for a six-year term, were elected by direct universal suffrage, and one third was elected by a college composed of communal elected members as well as members elected by colleges composed of professional chambers, elected members and wage-earners representatives.

The revised Constitution of September 13, 1996 reintroduced the bicameral system. The legislative function underwent modifications in the new constitutional text by creating a new procedure between the two houses:  draft bills and proposed bills are submitted to the two houses. In case the two houses failed to adopt one identical text, the government should set up a joint committee with equal representation with a view to adopting an identical text.

In case of disagreemnet, even after the submission of the text by the joint committee, the House of Representatives shall have the last word.