Government meets amid coalition tensions, with several PAM figures absent

Morocco’s governing parties kept their escalating campaign feud out of Thursday’s Council of Government meeting, a government source said, as several ministers from the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) missed the session for election-related activities.

The source, speaking from inside the council, said ministers focused on the legislation before them without discussing tensions between PAM and the National Rally of Independents (RNI), which govern alongside Istiqlal.

“The meeting did not include any discussion of this political polarization between the two allied parties,” the source said. “The focus was on the texts on the agenda.”

Among those absent were Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, coordinator of PAM’s collective leadership, and Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid. The source attributed the absences to party and campaign commitments.

Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi and Higher Education Minister Azzedine El Midaoui attended, along with housing and employment secretaries of state Adib Benbrahim and Hicham Sabry.

Elsewhere Thursday morning, Fouzi Lekjaa, a recent addition to PAM’s leadership ranks, spoke at a party campaign event in Bouznika.

The divided attendance comes as coalition partners compete for votes while continuing to share responsibility for government business. Their public exchanges have sharpened, at times extending to accusations involving alleged criminal conduct.

Thursday’s session could be the government’s last formal meeting of its current term, the source estimated, saying campaign pressures would make another gathering next week difficult. That assessment was not presented as an official decision.

Ministers examined and approved legislative and regulatory texts, including a decree implementing Law 36.09, which prohibits the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and provides for their destruction.

The agenda also included amendments to the rules governing state housing assistance for buyers acquiring a primary residence. The proposed changes concern the forms of support and how it is awarded, under a decree first adopted in November 2023.

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