Morocco’s PAM agrees coalition with three parties, securing parliamentary majority

Morocco’s election-winning Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has agreed to form a governing coalition with three other parties, giving the alliance 207 seats in parliament, according to a joint statement issued Monday.

The coalition also includes the Istiqlal Party, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) and the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS), the statement said after a second round of talks in Rabat.

The four parties together hold 207 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, above the 198 needed for a majority. PAM has 97 seats, Istiqlal 65, USFP 26 and PPS 19.

The parties said they would put forward candidates for ministerial posts and draw up a government programme as soon as possible.

King Mohammed VI tasked PAM leader Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri with forming a government on Sept. 29, after the party came first in the Sept. 23 parliamentary elections.

The National Rally of Independents (RNI), which led the outgoing government and finished second in the election with 66 seats, is not part of the new coalition.