Morocco’s Authenticity and Modernity Party denied pressuring lawmakers and elected officials from the National Rally of Independents to defect, escalating a dispute between two governing coalition partners less than a month before the September 23 parliamentary election.
The PAM political bureau said Wednesday that politicians joining its candidate lists had done so freely through “dialogue and persuasion.” It rejected the RNI’s accusations as false and said it had neither coerced nor would coerce anyone to join.
The denial followed an RNI statement Tuesday accusing PAM of using inducements and pressure to recruit its parliamentarians, local representatives and officials. The RNI said the repeated cases threatened political ethics, party independence and fair electoral competition.
The RNI identified eight politicians whom it said PAM had selected or approached, including people previously announced as RNI candidates and others still holding elected mandates under the party’s name. Its statement did not publicly provide evidence of coercion.
PAM countered that the RNI had fielded more than 17 former parliamentarians from five other parties in the 2021 election, including six who had belonged to PAM. It said dozens of local and House of Councillors representatives also moved to the RNI at the time.
PAM said it had treated those transfers as exercises of political choice and had not accused the RNI of improper recruitment. It added that its current nominations complied with constitutional and legal requirements and said it would accept no “lessons” on respecting the law.
The dispute raises a distinction between changing parties before an election and abandoning a party while retaining a parliamentary mandate. Article 61 of Morocco’s Constitution states that a member of either chamber who renounces the affiliation under which they were elected, or leaves their parliamentary group, loses the seat.
Neither party said whether any of the sitting lawmakers cited had formally resigned or become subject to proceedings to terminate their mandates.
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