Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri met PAM’s government-formation committee on Monday to take stock of her first round of consultations and discuss the next stage of negotiations as parties begin setting out their terms for joining Morocco’s next government.
The meeting was still under way at the time of publication, Le360 has learned.
El Mansouri, the designated Head of Government and PAM national coordinator, chairs the committee, which also includes Abdellatif Ouahbi, Fouzi Lekjaa and Ahmed Akhchichine.
It comes after a first round of talks in which El Mansouri received RNI, Istiqlal, the Popular Movement, USFP, PPS, the Constitutional Union and MDS at PAM headquarters in Rabat.
Several of those parties have since moved from initial consultations to mandates for negotiations over possible participation in the next government.
Read also : El Mansouri to begin formal coalition talks this week after unanimous PAM mandate
RNI’s National Council came out in favor of joining the government and authorized its leadership to negotiate the terms of participation.
Istiqlal has mandated secretary-general Nizar Baraka to negotiate on its behalf, with the party seeking representation in the next cabinet commensurate with its parliamentary weight.
USFP has also authorized First Secretary Driss Lachgar and Mustapha Ajjab to continue negotiations, while saying participation would require agreement on a common program and shared political principles.
PPS has yet to make its call. Its Central Committee is due to meet on Tuesday to decide its position and the conditions for any participation in the next majority.
Read also : PPS central committee to assess government formation talks on Tuesday
PAM itself has left the negotiations in El Mansouri’s hands.
Its National Council, meeting in an extraordinary session in Skhirat on Saturday, mandated her to conduct the talks after a debate in which opposition was voiced to bringing RNI into the next majority. The council’s final statement did not rule out that option.
El Mansouri told the gathering that government-formation talks would “not be easy” and said PAM wanted a “strong political government.”
She also rejected an allocation of ministries based on patronage.
“We want political leaders, competent people, people with integrity and ethics, who carry values and are ready to make sacrifices for this nation,” she said.
Read also : Govt formation talks will ‘not be easy’, says El Mansouri
While several parties are now weighing the terms of participation, others have settled on opposition.
The PJD decided after the Sept 23 election that it would not join a PAM-led government. Secretary-general Abdelilah Benkirane subsequently refused to attend a consultation with El Mansouri at PAM headquarters, saying she should come to his party instead.
The Left Alliance has likewise chosen opposition. It initially accepted El Mansouri’s invitation to talks but asked for the meeting to be held at an independent venue, arguing that an encounter between a designated Head of Government and party leaders should have an institutional character.
The meeting was cancelled after the two sides failed to agree on the venue.
El Mansouri defended her decision to seek talks with opposition parties when she addressed PAM’s National Council on Saturday.
“We are in the majority, we are going to lead the next government. We are an institution and the opposition is an institution,” she said. “We want to sit with everyone, we are listening to everyone. There must never be a break between institutions.”
Monday’s committee meeting comes six days after King Mohammed VI appointed El Mansouri Head of Government and tasked her, under Article 47 of the Constitution, with forming a new government following PAM’s victory in the Sept 23 legislative election.
