Head of Government-designate Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri opened a second round of government-formation talks on Monday with PPS secretary-general Nabil Benabdallah, a day before his party is due to decide whether it wants to join the next government.
Unlike the first round, the renewed consultations are being held away from the press.
Le360 learned that El Mansouri contacted Benabdallah on Sunday evening and asked to meet him on Monday morning at PAM’s regional headquarters in Rabat.
The meeting came after PAM’s National Council gave El Mansouri a fresh mandate on Saturday to continue negotiations with political parties over the formation of the government.
El Mansouri had told the council that the talks would resume, acknowledging that negotiations would “not be easy” and promising what she called a “strong political government.”
Read also : Govt formation talks will ‘not be easy’, says El Mansouri
PPS has yet to decide whether it will be part of it.
Its Central Committee is due to meet on Tuesday to settle the party’s position on participation. The committee could entrust Benabdallah with taking the final decision.
The PPS chief was among the party leaders received during El Mansouri’s first round of consultations last week. After that meeting, he said no decision had been taken and that the matter would be debated within the party.
He nevertheless pointed to areas of common ground with PAM, saying the two parties had “many things in common,” while raising the cost of living, youth unemployment and declining public trust among the issues facing the next government.
Read also : PPS central committee to assess government formation talks on Tuesday
Saturday’s PAM meeting also exposed resistance inside El Mansouri’s own party to one possible coalition partner.
A number of National Council members spoke against bringing RNI into the next government. “I got the message,” El Mansouri told delegates.
The council’s final position did not exclude RNI, however, and instead entrusted El Mansouri with conducting the next stage of negotiations.
RNI, Istiqlal and USFP have already authorized their respective leaderships to pursue negotiations over participation, while PPS will make its call on Tuesday.
PJD and the Left Alliance have chosen opposition. Both also declined meetings at PAM headquarters during the first round, although for different reasons: PJD chief Abdelilah Benkirane said El Mansouri should come to his party, while the Left Alliance asked for an independent venue for what it said should be an institutional meeting.
