Abdelilah Benkirane has ruled out going to PAM headquarters for talks with Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, saying no PJD delegation will turn up for a meeting scheduled for 5pm on Thursday and that the designated Head of Government should meet him instead if she wants to talk.
The PJD secretary-general said in a social media live on Wednesday night that he had agreed in principle when informed that El Mansouri wanted to meet him, but drew the line at the venue.
“I told her: No, Fatima Ezzahra, I will not come to your place. If you want to see me, you have to come and see me at mine,” Benkirane said.
The exchange puts an early wrinkle in consultations that El Mansouri began on Wednesday at PAM headquarters in Rabat, where a succession of party delegations arrived for talks on the formation of the next government.
Benkirane said his position was informed by the precedent he himself followed after becoming Head of Government, when he visited former heads of government including Abderrahmane Youssoufi, Abbas El Fassi and Ahmed Osman.
Thursday’s proposed meeting, however, was arranged as part of El Mansouri’s consultations with parties represented in the new House, with Benkirane being approached as PJD secretary-general rather than as a former Head of Government.
There is little ambiguity from the PJD over what would — and would not — be discussed if a meeting takes place.
Benkirane said he had already told El Mansouri that joining her government was not up for discussion. The PJD leadership decided after the Sept 23 election to sit in opposition, a position subsequently endorsed unanimously by its National Council in Bouznika.
“We will not enter the government, full stop,” Benkirane said.
The PJD won 54 seats in the election, making it the fourth-largest party in the new House. El Mansouri had nevertheless reached out to Benkirane on Tuesday evening as PAM prepared to open consultations with parties across the parliamentary divide.
Her first day of talks took in RNI and Istiqlal, followed by the Popular Movement, USFP and PPS. Benkirane’s PJD was due to have its turn on Thursday; by Wednesday night, the appointment remained caught on the question of who should go to whom.
