Morocco’s new PM reveals parties participating in government

Moroccan new Prime Minister Saad Eddine Othmani announced the parties which will participate in his government, including National Rally of Liberals, Popular Movement and Constitutional Union of Progress and Socialism. The announcement came after five months of controversy over the parties scheduled to be presented in the new government upon the results of the recent parliamentary elections conducted in October.
The participation of Constitutional Union of Progress and Socialism in the new government is considered a major change in the ruling Justice and Development Party’s position, as former Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane refused the participation of the socialist party. Othmani said that he will hold a meeting with the representatives of the parties to discuss the ministerial portfolios scheduled to be borne by each party.
On their hand, a number of members of the ruling Islamist party expressed their anger for abandoning the previous conditions posed by the former prime minister, describing such concession as failure to honor the party’s commitments towards the voters who supported them during the recent parliamentary elections. They called the new prime minister for adopting the same position of Bankiran to defend the will of people and democratic choice.
The Moroccan ruling party issued a statement expressing its support for the new prime minister during his negotiations with the other parties to form a new strong government enjoying harmony to gain the confidence of Moroccan King Mohamed V.
On the other hand, the new prime minister stressed his keenness to accelerate the process to form the new government using the current positive atmosphere witnessed during the first phase of negotiations, as he conducted a number of meetings with the representatives of Moroccan political parties represented in the parliament.
Othmani was keen to explain his government’s program, stressing the need for forming the new government as soon as possible taking into account the constitutional rules and the will of people expressed in the recent parliamentary elections conducted in October.
Morocco’s King Mohammad VI has named Saad Al Deen Al Othmani of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) as the country’s new prime minister and asked him to form a government, a statement carried by MAP state news agency said on Friday.
The king announced he would replace Abdelelah Bankiran as prime minister with another member of the PJD in an effort to break a five-month post-election deadlock. Al Othmani was foreign minister from 2012-2013 and had most recently served as the head of the PJD’s parliamentary group.