Moroccan businessman Aziz Akhannouch was appointed head of government on Friday and tasked with forming the new executive by King Mohammed VI after the legislative victory of his liberal party, the National Rally of Independents.
Moroccan businessman Aziz Akhannouch was appointed head of government on Friday, September 10, and tasked with forming the new executive by King Mohammed VI after his liberal party’s victory in the legislative elections to the detriment of the Islamists in power.
The monarch received “at the Royal Palace in Fez Mr. Aziz Akhannouch, whom the sovereign appointed head of government, and instructed him to form the new government”, according to a statement from the palace.
Aziz Akhannouch’s party, the National Rally of Independents (RNI), the big winner of the election, pocketed 102 seats in Parliament out of a total of 395, far ahead of the Justice and Development Party (PJD, moderate Islamist) which obtained only 13, according to the results of the Ministry of the Interior after counting all the ballots.
One of the first fortunes of the kingdom and Minister of Agriculture since 2007, Aziz Akhannouch has headed the RNI since 2016. This party considered close to the palace has taken part in all government coalitions for 23 years, except for a brief period between 2012 and 2013.
The RNI Also Leads the Municipal and Regional Authorities
For the first time, the approximately 18 million Moroccan voters chose their 395 deputies on the same day, Wednesday, as their municipal and regional representatives.
The formation of Aziz Akhannouch also came first in the communal with 9,995 seats (out of a total of 31,503) and regional with 196 seats (out of 678).
The historic defeat of the Islamist party in the legislative elections in Morocco was confirmed with the local elections: it went from 5,021 seats to 777 in the communales and also plummeted in the regional ones, with 18 seats against 174 in the previous elections in 2015.
The Islamist party has been the head of government in Morocco since 2011 in the wake of the Arab Spring, without controlling key ministries. At that time, Morocco adopted a new constitution granting broad prerogatives to Parliament and the government.
