Menu

Wide Angle

The coalition government : Few changes for El Othmani’s new cabinet

After 6 months of post-election deadlock, AKA blockage, members of the recently appointed prime minister’s cabinet were finally appointed by King Mohammed VI. The official procedure took place at the royal palace in Rabat, where 39 ministers and secretaries of state were sworn in. The ministerial posts’ list included familiar names who were able to keep their positions in the new government.

Saadeddine El Othmani, Moroccan Prime Minister./Ph.DR
Estimated read time: 2'

Led by the Islamist political party of Justice and Development, the new coalition government was finally formed yesterday putting an end to a six-month political crisis that hit the Kingdom after the latest elections. King Mohammed VI has appointed members of the government, a list that included 39 Ministers and secretaries of state. The new cabinet includes the 6 political parties which were previously selected by El Othmani to form a governmental coalition.

PJD, RNI, MP and PPS were awarded 11, 7, 5 and 3 ministries respectively, while part of the cabinet was dedicated to the UC and USFP. On the other hand, several ministries remained unchanged.

Few changes for El Othmani’s cabinet

Many ministers retained their former positions such as Aziz Akhannouch head of the National Rally of Independents party. The 56 years old Moroccan businessman, served as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries since 2007. The Berber politician left RNI in January 2012 to rejoin it again in October 2016 replacing Salaheddine Mezouar former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation as head of the party.  

The coalition government list did not exclude, Mohammed Boussaid who was reappointed Minister of Economy and Finance keeping his title for another 5 years. Bassima Hakkaoui also remained Minister of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development for the second time in a row. The PJD politician has been a member of the House of Representative since 2002 and became a minister after her party won the legislative elections in 2011.

El Othmani’s cabinet, however, knew a significant change with the appointment of Abdelouafi Laftit. The former governor of Rabat is now in charge of the Ministry of Interior replacing by that Mohammed Hassad who is now Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Higher Education and Scientific Research.

The Justice and Development party handed though one of its important ministries, namely the Ministry of Justice, to RNI through the designation of Mohammed Aujjar. The latter replaced Mustapha Ramid. Indeed, he will now be the Minister of State in charge of Human Rights.

Be the first one to comment on our articles...