He is the president of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), a government body behind Morocco's proposed autonomy plan for Western Sahara.

[1] Interested in politics from a young age, Ould Errachid was a rising nationalist, who attended reunions in his family home organized by Muhammad Bassiri in the 1960s.

"[6] During the United Nations visiting mission to Spanish Sahara in May–June 1975, and before the Madrid Agreement, Ould Errachid fled from El Aaiún to Las Palmas, and then took another plane to Morocco.

[9][10] Under King Hassan II, he was appointed in 1977 as Minister of Saharan Affairs, and later as mayor (President of the Municipal Council) of Laayoune from 1983 until 2006, when he was succeeded by his brother, Moulay Hamdi Ould Errachid.

He was viewed as very close to the King Hassan's right-hand man, the minister of interior Driss Basri, who held responsibility for the Saharan territories, where Polisario waged a guerrilla war against Morocco until the 1991 cease-fire (still in effect, pending final resolution of the conflict).