Morocco: PAM party forms government coalition with 207 seats

Morocco's Party of Authenticity and Modernity announced on Monday that it had reached an agreement to form a government majority with three other parties, according to a joint statement.

The coalition comprises the Istiqlal party, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, and the Party of Progress and Socialism, bringing the total seats of the bloc to 207 out of 395 in the House of Representatives, exceeding the majority threshold of 198 seats.

The seats are distributed as follows: the Party of Authenticity and Modernity 97 seats, Istiqlal 65, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces 26, and the Party of Progress and Socialism 19.

The four parties announced their intention to nominate ministers and prepare a government program at the earliest opportunity. King Mohammed VI had tasked Fatima Zahra Mansouri, leader of the Party of Authenticity and Modernity, with forming the government on September 29, following her party's first-place finish in elections held on September 23.

The National Rally of Independents — which led the previous government and came second with 66 seats — remained outside the new coalition, a notable absence that was not addressed in the joint statement.