Moroccans force PM out of local market

Moroccan citizens and merchants expelled Prime Minister Saad-Eddine Othmani from a market in Rabat in protest against his performance since taking office four years ago.

Merchants and their customers called on Othmani to “leave” while others changed “thieves” as soon as the official entered the Ait Baha market as part of the electoral campaign for the Justice and Development Party which he heads.

According to videos circulating on social media, Othmani and members of his electoral campaign tried to talk to locals but the intensity of popular rejection and anger forced them to leave the market.

Othmani has been leading the government since March 2017. He is now standing as the PJD representative in the legislative elections scheduled for Wednesday to obtain a parliamentary seat in Rabat’s Quartier OCEAN constituency.

Along with Othmani faces Nabil Benabdallah, secretary-general of the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS), Isaac Charia, leader of the Moroccan Liberal Party (PML), Mahdi Bensaid, head of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), and Badr El-Tanashri El-Wazzani, head of the National Association of Moroccan Veterinarians (on behalf of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces), in the race for who will win the constituency, in addition to Maryam Benkhouia, the candidate of the Federation of the Left bloc, and Abdelilah Al-Bouzidi, the candidate of the Istiqlal Party.

READ: Former prime minister of Morocco warns of conspiracy