Mohamed VI nombra a Aziz Akhannouch como presidente del Gobierno

The big winner of the recent Moroccan elections, Aziz Akhannouch, has been appointed president of the government by King Mohammed VI. The Alawite monarch has entrusted Akhannouch with the formation of the country's future government.

The RNI, a centrist-liberal party led by the Moroccan tycoon, won 102 seats in the last elections. However, Akhannouch will have to make a pact with another party to obtain an absolute majority. The centre-left Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won the second most seats (86 seats), followed by the nationalist Istiqlal, which won 81.

The Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, was the main loser of the elections. The party led by Saadeddine Othmani won only 13 seats, down from 125 in 2016. Othmani, after the defeat at the polls, resigned and announced that he would be present in the opposition. The PJD gained prominence in the Arab Spring, but has lost popularity over time.

Akhannouch has political experience; in 2007 he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and in 2016 he began leading the RNI. In addition to his political profile, the Berber businessman runs the Akwa Group, an oil and gas company.

During his election campaign, in which he invested $211,000 in advertising on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram, he pledged to promote social policies, such as a living wage for retirees and universal healthcare for all Moroccans. Likewise, as prime minister he will have to face the country's current challenges, such as the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, the rupture of relations with Algeria and the rapprochement with Spain after a period of tension that began last April.