Morocco finally gets new government, but at what cost?
The announcement of a new Cabinet in Morocco after months of difficulty revealed that the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) may have had to pay a heavy price for compromise.
Now that Morocco has a new Cabinet and prime minister, the dust is finally settling after six months of wrangling over the appointments — though one journalist described the outcome as a “dangerous democratic setback."
When the leading Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) failed in five months to negotiate a new government, King Mohammed VI dismissed Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane in March, replacing him with the party's second in command, Saadeddine El Othmani.
The new 39-member Cabinet, which was announced April 5, has 13 first-time appointees representing six of the 10 parties that participated in the election.
The PJD, led by Benkirane, had rejected conditions proposed by other parties supported by the king and refused to include the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) in the governmental coalition. In fact, Benkirane had vowed that, come hell or high water, the socialist party would not be involved in the government as long as he was prime minister. His refusal might have stemmed from the USFP not negotiating with him directly to participate in the government; instead, it joined a bloc of four parties to negotiate.
