Head of Government-designate Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri brought USFP First Secretary Driss Lachgar back to the negotiating table on Monday evening, with the two discussing the party’s possible entry into government and the basis of a common program.
The meeting at PAM’s regional headquarters in Rabat was the second between the two leaders in less than a week and came hours after El Mansouri opened her second round of talks with PPS chief Nabil Benabdallah.
An informed source said the talks with Lachgar covered possible USFP participation as well as the priorities and broad policy lines on which the parties could agree.
Lachgar had kept his cards close after his first meeting with El Mansouri on Sept 30, declining to disclose what had been discussed. His party has since said more.
USFP has authorized Lachgar and Mustapha Ajjab to continue negotiations, but said joining the government would require agreement on a common program and shared political principles.
Monday’s meeting put those conditions on the table as El Mansouri sounded out a second Koutla leader in the space of a day.
Benabdallah met her in the morning after being called on Sunday evening and asked to return for talks. PPS has yet to decide whether to join the government, with its Central Committee due to meet on Tuesday.
The two meetings come as PAM looks towards the three Koutla parties—Istiqlal, USFP and PPS—for the next majority, according to informed sources.
Together with PAM, the three parties would command 207 seats in the House of Representatives, nine above the 198 needed for an absolute majority. No final coalition has yet been agreed.
Istiqlal has already given secretary-general Nizar Baraka the go-ahead to negotiate participation.
PAM cleared El Mansouri to carry on with the negotiations at its National Council meeting in Skhirat on Saturday, where she warned that forming the government “will not be easy.”
The meeting also saw resistance from PAM members to another term in government with RNI. When delegates spoke against its inclusion in the next majority, El Mansouri replied: “I got the message.”
RNI has itself authorized its leadership to negotiate a place in government, but the four-party formula now under consideration would leave it out.
