Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri began the business of putting together Morocco’s next government on Wednesday with the two parties PAM knows best, receiving RNI and Istiqlal in quick succession as the partners of the outgoing majority sounded ready to talk again under a new pecking order.
RNI was first through the door at PAM headquarters in Rabat, in keeping with El Mansouri’s decision to receive parties according to their finish in the Sept 23 election. Mohamed Chouki led a delegation including Rachid Talbi Alami and Mohamed Boussaid.
The meeting brought PAM and RNI back across the same table after a campaign in which five years of governing together did little to spare them from trading increasingly sharp political blows. This time PAM, with 97 seats, was doing the inviting and the 66-seat RNI was being asked where it stood.
Chouki offered El Mansouri support but stopped short of saying whether that would extend to a place in her government.
“RNI congratulated her after her appointment by King Mohammed VI as Head of Government and we expressed our determination to help her in her task,” he told reporters after the meeting.
He gave no indication of whether participation in the next majority had been discussed.
Nizar Baraka arrived next with Mohamed Ould Errachid, Abdessamad Kayouh and Abdeljabbar Rachdi, bringing Istiqlal’s 65 seats into the conversation and, with them, a much easier route through the coalition arithmetic.
Baraka spoke first of El Mansouri’s appointment as Morocco’s first woman Head of Government, calling it a historic moment for the country and for Moroccan women, before turning to what he described as a crucial political period.
The Istiqlal chief said the talks had dealt with restoring trust in politics and making good on commitments parties had taken to voters during the campaign.
That was followed by language that looked beyond the election contest. Whatever decision is taken through Istiqlal’s internal process, Baraka said, the party would support the political experience and argued that the country now needed a “general mobilization” extending beyond electoral rivalries.
El Mansouri poursuit ses consultations avec l’Istiqlal
He listed employment, unemployment, purchasing power and the expansion of the middle class among the issues ahead, while saying the country also needed to strengthen its domestic front in the face of geostrategic, economic and social challenges.
Istiqlal will put participation in the next government before its National Council. Baraka did not pre-empt that decision on Wednesday.
For El Mansouri, the numbers explain why her first two appointments were with familiar faces. PAM’s 97 seats leave it well short of the 198 required for an absolute majority in the 395-member House. RNI and Istiqlal together bring another 131.
The three parties spent the past five years governing together, though with the order reversed: RNI led the coalition, PAM came second and Istiqlal third. The Sept 23 vote put PAM first, RNI second and Istiqlal third, leaving El Mansouri to find out whether an old arrangement can be made to work under new management.
Her diary now moves beyond the outgoing majority. The Popular Movement is due at PAM headquarters at 3pm, followed by USFP at 4:30pm and PPS at 6:30pm.
