Rabat – King Mohammed VI announced he will launch a new cycle in Morocco’s development process following the upcoming legislative elections, scheduled for September 23.
The monarch made the announcement today in a speech commemorating the 27th anniversary of his ascension to the throne.
“I will be looking forward to launching a new cycle in our country’s development process,” the monarch said.
He added that the goal of the process is to consolidate the gains Morocco has made in recent years and continue to implement major projects and reforms.
The Moroccan government set the total amount of state funding for political parties participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections at $45 million.
As parties brace for the upcoming elections, there have been reports of intensified tensions among the government coalition and the opposition.
In particular, converging media reports suggested last week that Fouzi Lekjaa, minister in charge of the budget and president of Morocco’s Royal Football Federation, could be a contender to head the next cabinet.
Speculation grew after Lekjaa decided to join the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), the party that former Head of Government Abdelilah Benkirane has strongly criticized.
Benkirane has notably described PAM as a party of “scandals,” calling it “corrupt.”
He also criticized Head of Government Akhannouch in different videos, urging him to step down.
“This man, once he started talking about someone else, that was proof that he was finished. He no longer has any justification to remain in politics. He is no longer fit to lead the government, to lead the National Rally of Independents (RNI), or to lead anything else,” Benkirane said in a speech at a party event last week.
He also defended the legacy of his party, the Justice and Development Party (PJD). Benkirane spoke of the PJD’s history of past electoral successes, recalling the number of seats it secured when it was first elected to lead the government for two terms.
Yet he acknowledged setbacks, which he then went on to attribute to the political deadlock he endured in 2016 and to the government under his former fellow PJD member and former Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani.
Addressing Akhannouch, Benkirane said: “If circumstances allow him, let him go and manage his own wealth, do whatever he wants with it. If no judicial authority has stopped him and asked, ‘Where did this wealth come from? How was it accumulated? And how did it multiply after you joined the government?’ These are my own words, and I take full responsibility for them, whatever the consequences. But this is the reality.”
