Arabic to English Social Sciences Government / Politics

ُThis is not a translation question per se, rather one of etymology: استحقاق is used in Lebanon and other Francophone countries to mean "election", as in this quote from Morocco in which three separate words for election are used:

بدأت في المغرب الحملات الانتخابية استعداداً لاقتراع 13 حزيران (يونيو) المقبل. وسينتخب المغاربة في هذا الاقتراع ما يزيد على 25 ألف مستشار في البلديات والأرياف، ضمن أول استحقاق ديموقراطي تعرفه البلاد منذ انتخابات عام 1993

Does anyone know why استحقاق is used in that regard? I have also seen the word used to mean something like a final match in football. And its usual usage means the maturation of a loan or other instrument or in more common usage to mean "deserving" None of the Arabic dictionaries I have consulted define the term in its political or sporting usage.