Istiqlal Party left Morocco’s Islamist-led coalition

By on July 11, 2013

Abdelilah-Benkirane-PJD-ReutersThe secular centre-right Istiqlal party announced that five of its six ministers had resigned. It is not clear if Education Minister Mohammed el-Ouafa has followed his partners or not.
Istiqlal party  is the second-largest party in parliament after the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), which won elections held in late 2011.
The moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party will now have to negociate new coalition partners or give and call for early elections.
Analysts predicted the first option is more likely to happen.
According to Reuters news agency reports, Early Tuesday, Istiqlal spokesman Adil Benhamza accused Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane of “acting like the head of a political party rather than the head of a government that represents the people”. He added that The “PJD wants to raise prices and hit the poorest, while we prefer to pick up some billions which are in the hands of speculators by controlling imports”.
On the other hand, PJD has accused Istiqlal of trying to sabotage reforms, PM Benkirane has said the IMF criticised the government last month for acting too hesitantly in implementing the financial reforms.
Istiqlal freshely elected leader Hamid Chabat, has been quoted as saying that he wants “the end of Benkirane, as was the case for his brother Morsi”.
The government crisis in Morocco comes less than a week after Egypt’s Islamist President, Mohammed Morsi, was ousted by the country’s military.

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