Morocco’s King Mohammed named a new government led by Aziz Akhannouch, a billionaire tycoon close to the palace who will face pressing economic problems exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
The 24-member cabinet, formed after Akhannouch’s National Rally of Independents (RNI) trounced incumbent Islamists in elections last month, includes seven women, up from four in the previous administration.
It is largely made up of technocrats, with veteran diplomat Nasser Bourita keeping his role as foreign minister, in a context of regional tensions, especially with neighbouring Algeria.
The monarch “led a ceremony… at the royal palace in Fez, appointing the members of the new government. The list of ministers included members of the liberal RNI and the election runner-up the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), both considered close to the palace, and the centre-right Istiqlal party, which fought colonial rule.
Bourita and interior minister AbdelouafiLaftit are independents.
The RNI won 102 of parliament’s 395 seats in the September 8 polls, sweeping away the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) which had headed the governing coalition for a decade but took just 13 seats.
