The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has called a meeting of its political bureau for Wednesday evening as tensions with coalition partner National Rally of Independents (RNI) intensify following the leak of an audio recording attributed to House Speaker Rachid Talbi Alami.
A senior PAM official told Le360, on condition of anonymity, that the party would discuss the “unusual tension” between the two coalition partners, less than a month before the September 23 legislative elections.
The meeting comes after an audio recording circulated on social media on Tuesday in which Talbi Alami, a senior RNI figure, is heard taking aim at Fouzi Lekjaa and saying he would “never get the finance portfolio."
Read also : RNI accuses PAM of poaching its candidates as election battle heats up
According to the remarks in the recording, the portfolio would remain with Nadia Fettah, the current economy and finance minister.
The leak comes days after Lekjaa, currently minister delegate in charge of the budget, joined PAM after years without formal party affiliation.
His move was followed by another high-profile defection on Tuesday, when outgoing Midelt MP and RNI political bureau member Marouane Chbaatou announced that he was leaving the party to join PAM.
The two developments have sharpened an increasingly public contest between the governing allies as parties finalize their candidates for next month’s polls.
RNI had already raised the stakes earlier on Tuesday, accusing PAM of “wooing” and pressuring its parliamentarians, elected officials and local leaders.
In a strongly worded statement, the party said the approaches had gone beyond normal political competition and questioned methods it said were being used to attract its members.
RNI argued that the number of cases and similarity of the approaches meant they could no longer be treated as isolated defections. It also said the attempts had reached a member of its political bureau.
Chbaatou announced his switch to PAM hours later.
Read also : Senior RNI leader Marouane Chbaatou joins PAM weeks before elections
The Midelt MP said his departure followed accumulated grievances, including what he described as insufficient attention from the RNI leadership to his province. He said the decision was neither the result of a personal dispute nor “a moment of anger.”
Lekjaa’s entry into PAM has added another dimension to the contest. His move gives the party one of the government’s most prominent figures just weeks before campaigning begins.
The leaked Talbi Alami recording has now pushed the dispute beyond candidate recruitment and defections, bringing questions over future government portfolios into an already tense pre-election relationship.
PAM national coordinator Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri’s response will therefore be closely watched following Wednesday’s political bureau meeting.
The dispute comes as both parties enter the final stretch before the September 23 vote, finalizing candidate lists and preparing to campaign against each other while remaining partners in the outgoing governing coalition.
