Marrakech – Morocco’s head of government-designate, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, continued her coalition consultations Thursday at Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) headquarters in Rabat, receiving the Constitutional Union (UC) and the Democratic and Social Movement (MDS), while the Justice and Development Party (PJD) is set to stay away.
The two formations announced on September 25 that they will sit together in the House, forming a joint parliamentary group of 25 seats, the UC’s 17 and the MDS’s 8, for the twelfth legislature.
The two sessions extended a round that El Mansouri opened Wednesday, when she met the National Rally of Independents (RNI), the Istiqlal Party, the Popular Movement (MP), the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), and the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS).
PAM finished first in the September 23 elections with 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, 101 short of the 198 needed for an absolute majority, which leaves El Mansouri to assemble several partners at once.
Morocco’s electoral system makes it difficult for a single party to win an absolute majority, so coalition-building is the opening task for any head of government-designate. With 395 seats in the House, a governing bloc needs 198 to clear the threshold, and PAM’s 97 fall well below that line.
No single partner can carry it over, which forces El Mansouri to stitch together several formations. Behind PAM’s 97 seats sit the RNI with 66, Istiqlal with 65, the PJD with 54, the Popular Movement with 29, the USFP with 26, and the PPS with 19.
The goal of the meeting was to review issues that matter to Moroccans, argued UC secretary-general Mohamed Joudar, citing employment, education, health, and purchasing power. Morocco has an opportunity to deliver more prosperity over the next five years by pairing attention to social files with the success of major international commitments, he told reporters.
Joudar pointed to the large projects ahead, foremost the joint hosting of the 2030 World Cup, alongside work on high-speed rail lines, airports, stadiums, and hotels. He cast those projects as priorities tied to the royal orientations for “a Morocco at unified rhythm,” aimed at securing spatial and social justice across the kingdom’s regions.
He also congratulated El Mansouri, reading the appointment of a woman to lead the government as a reflection of the improved standing women now hold in Moroccan society.
MDS secretary-general Abdessamad Archane followed with an offer of support. His party is ready to provide whatever would help the new government succeed, he told reporters, calling the designation of a woman as head of government for the first time an important moment and a message of recognition to Moroccan women.
Archane tied the discussion to the challenges of the next five years, pressing for a government program that places social questions at its center, protects purchasing power, consolidates earlier gains, and corrects the shortcomings of the outgoing team.
He called for reforms at a faster pace so that citizens feel the change, and voiced hope that the coming stage would bring bolder decisions. The success of the new government, he put it, “will be a success for the nation and the citizens,” adding that El Mansouri had shown readiness to weigh the party’s observations.
PAM conducted both meetings through the same team of Abdellatif Ouahbi, Fouzi Lekjaa, and Ahmed Akhchichine.
None of PJD’s leaders would attend
The day’s third scheduled session is not expected to go ahead. PJD secretary-general Abdelilah Benkirane announced Wednesday evening that none of his party’s leaders would attend the Thursday meeting set for 5 p.m. at PAM headquarters. In a video, he recounted a phone call from El Mansouri conveying her wish to meet, which he welcomed, telling her he was ready to receive her since she had initiated the request.
Benkirane recalled that during his own tenure as head of government he had visited former heads of government and political figures as part of his consultations. He noted that El Mansouri told him she was receiving party leaders at PAM headquarters and had not initially fixed a time, and that she had begun receiving secretaries-general on Wednesday before his party’s slot was placed Thursday evening.
On that basis, he declined the format and ruled out any PJD presence. The party, which climbed to 54 seats from 13, has announced it will remain in opposition and ruled out joining a PAM-led government.
Of Wednesday’s five participants, the RNI gave the clearest reading of its intentions. Its president, Mohamed Chouki, described exchanges with El Mansouri as marked by “clarity and frankness” and committed the party to the next stage in line with “the supreme interest of the homeland.”
The RNI political bureau declared, in a separate statement, that the party is ready to take part in the coming government, calling its National Council to meet Saturday in Rabat to decide on that participation in light of the consultations.
Istiqlal struck a similar note, with its leader Nizar Baraka saying the party’s National Council would devote its Saturday session to assessing the election results and weighing a role in the government, while pledging to keep backing “this political experience, whatever the position it occupies.”
El Mansouri’s talks will continue in the coming days as she narrows her options before Parliament reconvenes on October 9.
