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Morocco’s PJD restricts government to parties in previous coalition

March 3, 2017 at 11:54 am

Morocco’s Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane delivers a speech in Rabat, Morocco on 20 February 2017 [Jalal Morchidi – Anadolu Agency]

Morocco’s Justice and Development Party (PJD) has backed the approach adopted by its leader, Abdelilah Benkirane — the designated Head of Government — to restrict the membership of the new government to the parties which formed the previous coalition.

“The appointed head of government is the sole individual authorised to form the government and determine the parties that will form the government majority,” said the PJD’s General Secretariat late on Thursday. The party supports this fully, it added.

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The parties involved are the majority Justice and Development Party (Islamist), the National Rally of Independents’ Party (right-wing), the Popular Movement (right-wing), and the Party of Progress and Socialism (left-wing).

The PJD also stressed that the current phase requires political responsibility and clarity. “It also needs an emphasis on the need to hasten the formation of the government and this must not be at the expense of the credibility of political and partisan life and the gains accumulated by Morocco in terms of constitutional and political reforms.”