The Constitutional Union brought jobs, the cost of living and the 2030 World Cup to Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri’s table on Thursday as talks on Morocco’s next government entered a second day, but gave no public indication of whether its 17 MPs could form part of the majority she is trying to assemble.
UC secretary-general Mohamed Joudar met the designated Head of Government at PAM headquarters in Rabat, accompanied by parliamentary group leader Chaoui Belassal and party deputy secretary-general and former minister El Hassan Abyaba.
Emerging from the meeting, Joudar congratulated El Mansouri on her appointment by King Mohammed VI and turned to what his party believes should occupy the next government.
Unemployment and the rising cost of living were among the issues he raised, with Joudar also calling for greater attention to young Moroccans. Preparations for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal, would be another major undertaking during the coming legislature, he said.
What he did not announce was where the UC sees itself in that legislature—inside El Mansouri’s government or outside it.
Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri reçoit l’Union constitutionnelle.
The meeting opened Thursday’s round of consultations after El Mansouri spent Wednesday receiving five parties in descending order of their showing in the Sept 23 election: RNI, Istiqlal, the Popular Movement, USFP and PPS.
The Democratic and Social Movement is next on Thursday’s schedule. A meeting with the PJD had been pencilled in for 5pm, but Abdelilah Benkirane said on Wednesday night that no party delegation would go to PAM headquarters, objecting to the venue and insisting that El Mansouri come to him if she wanted to meet.
The PJD has already settled the larger question hanging over those consultations. Its National Council has voted to sit in opposition and Benkirane has repeatedly ruled out joining a PAM-led government.
El Mansouri, whose PAM won 97 of the 395 seats in the new House of Representatives, needs partners to cross the 198-seat threshold for an absolute majority. King Mohammed VI appointed her Head of Government on Tuesday under Article 47 of the Constitution and tasked her with forming the new cabinet.
Her consultations are due to continue on Friday, when the Left Alliance, which has already declared that its eight MPs will sit in opposition, is scheduled to meet her at PAM headquarters.
