The first numbers reaching PAM headquarters on Wednesday night were giving the party something to smile about, though its leaders were not yet ready to celebrate.
Salaheddine Abkari said returns collected by the party showed strong scores in several constituencies, with PAM running ahead of its rivals in a number of them.
But the head of the party’s youth organization was careful not to turn an encouraging set of tally sheets into a victory declaration.
The numbers were still provisional, he told reporters, and the official results would have the final word.
Inside the party’s Rabat headquarters, election night was, meanwhile, getting busier. Journalists had begun piling in, including a sizeable contingent from Casablanca, as the Tractor party waited for more polling-station returns to find their way up the chain.
The press conference itself remained on hold.
Fatima-Zahra El Mansouri, national coordinator of PAM’s collective leadership, had yet to arrive, and the party was keeping its formal pronouncements for later in the night.
