Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri has challenged critics who portray PAM as a “remote-controlled” party to produce evidence, insisting the party takes its decisions independently.
“PAM is not a remote-controlled party,” the national coordinator of the party’s collective leadership said during a meeting organized by the Fqih Tetouani Foundation in Salé.
“Show me and give me proof of this remote control. The party acts completely independently,” she said.
El Mansouri also defended Fouzi Lekjaa’s arrival in PAM, saying the budget minister was brought in for his expertise and had not joined to displace anyone within the party.
Lekjaa formally joined PAM’s Political Bureau on July 25 during a session of the party’s National Council in Salé.
“Mr. Lekjaa joined as part of the party’s approach of bringing in expertise. That’s all,” El Mansouri said.
She also rejected suggestions that his move amounted to electoral party-hopping.
“One can speak of electoral transhumance when it happens in the middle of a mandate,” she said.
Lekjaa had not come “to take anyone’s place,” El Mansouri added.
She said she had received no request so far to convene PAM’s National Council, the party body that would have to consider any eventual change in its leadership.
Asked about possible alliances after the September 23 elections, El Mansouri also drew a personal line on another government headed by RNI.
“Personally, I would refuse to participate in a government led by the National Rally of Independents” if RNI wins the election, she said.
