Morocco to Establish New, Liberal Coalition Government?

Written by Makula Dunbar

Jul 31, 2013

Morocco’s ruling Islamists look set to form a new coalition government with a liberal party after their previous conservative partners walked out in a row centred on cuts to fuel and food subsidies.

Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane said his Islamist party would hold a second round of talks with the centre-right liberal RNI party on a power-sharing deal in the coming days.

Five ministers from the conservative Istiqlal party quit the coalition this month, arguing among other things that the senior partner, the Islamist Justice and Development party (PJD), was hurting the poor by reducing subsidies too fast.

“We have met most of the Moroccan political parties, and now we will start the second round, mostly with the RNI,” Benkirane said in an interview late on Monday.

Benkirane’s PJD has been in power since 2011 when Morocco adopted a new constitution proposed by King Mohamed and held legislative elections in a bid to appease Arab Spring-inspired protests.