Rabat – Popular Movement (MP) Secretary-General Mohand Laenser said on Thursday that Head of Government Abdelilah Benkirane’s logic for the government formation process “cannot lead to anything but a political crisis because it ignores the principles of symmetry, harmony and trust that should be the cornerstone of any effective and efficient alliance.”
Laenser noted that instead of opting for a cabinet reshuffle after winning the October 7th elections, the Justice and Development Party’s (PJD) Benkirane has chosen a full-scale course adjustment – delaying the completion of the formation process.
“Benkirane’s preference for the parties of the Kutla – the trusted Istiqlal Party and the Party of Progress and Socialism – does not cancel the incorporation of other parties in the government coalition in order to complete a parliamentary majority,” the MP leader said. “This is making the task of forming a government harder and risks a political crisis.”
Morocco still is not in political crisis mode, Laenser said, while encouraging the PJD leader to pursue relationships with the remainder of the political parties with seats in the new legislature.
The two Kutla parties have declared their support for Benkirane’s coalition so far, but negotiations with the National Rally of Independents (RNI), led by Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Aziz Akhannouch, and the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) are still ongoing.
The government coalition’s seat count now stands at 183 seats – 15 seats shy of a majority. An alliance with either the RNI (37 seats) or the USFP (20 seats) would give the PJD the 198 seats it needs to push its legislative agenda.
