The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won the largest number of seats in Morocco’s legislative election, followed by its partners in the outgoing government, National Rally of Independents (RNI), and the Istiqlal party, according to official preliminary results on Thursday.
The close vote in Wednesday’s poll will shape the next coalition government which will oversee the final stages of a $20 billion push to prepare for the 2030 World Cup, and initiatives aimed at reducing inequalities and addressing youth discontent, highlighted by a mass border rush on the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and deadly Gen-Z-led protests last year.
Liberal-centrist PAM took 97 seats in the 395-seat parliament, ahead of the RNI with 66, while the Istiqlal Party secured 65 seats, the Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit said in a news briefing on Thursday.
The Islamist Justice and Development Party rebounded to 54 seats, from only 13 in the previous election, buoyed by the return of its former Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane.
–Reuters–
