Morocco: Abdelilah Bekirane appointed for another term as PM

Abdelilah Bekirane, leader of Morocco's Islamic Justice and Development Party (PJD), was appointed as country's Prime Minister on 10 October 2016. This will be his second term as Prime Minister of Morocco.

Mohammed VI, the king of Morocco, made the announcement after Benkirane's PJD party emerged with the most number of seats in the 395-seat lower house of parliament.

In the election held on 7 October 2016, the PJD party, which has been running a coalition government since 2011, won 125 seats. The opposition Authenticity and Modernity Party came second with 102 seats. The country’s oldest party Istiqlal (Independence) Party stood third with 46 seats.

Benkirane has been serving as Prime Minister in a coalition government since November 2011.

Benkirane and the PJD will now reach out to other parties to form a coalition government, because the multi-party system in the kingdom makes it impossible for any political party to win an absolute majority.

Of the 395 members of the lower house, 305 are elected in multi-seat constituencies from electoral lists put together by the parties, while 60 seats of the remaining 90 are reserved for a national list of women and the rest 30 seats are set aside for candidates under the age of 35.