By Ahmed Eljechtimi
RABAT, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Morocco’s centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), who topped last month’s parliamentary election vote, will form a coalition government with three other parties, the four parties said on Monday.
The four — which include moderate socialist parties and the nationalist Istiqlal — together hold 207 seats in parliament, above the 198 needed for a majority.
The deal “produces a strong political government, made up of components marked by ideological and political proximity, united in, and committed to, a shared reformist vision,” the coalition said in a joint statement, adding that they will next propose a cabinet lineup.
The king appointed PAM leader Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as the country’s first woman to act as head of government and tasked her with forming a cabinet after PAM finished first in the September 23 vote.
PAM was founded in 2008 by an adviser to the king and has positioned itself as a counterweight to the Islamist Justice and Development Party, advocating social modernisation.
The new government will oversee the final stages of a $20-billion push to prepare for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Portugal and Spain.
It faces pressure to address youth grievances over jobs, education and health services, which fuelled the Gen Z protests last year and the Ceuta migration crisis in July.
The vote, however, is not expected to change policy direction in Morocco, a constitutional monarchy where the king retains sweeping powers over foreign policy, defence and other key portfolios.
(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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