Morocco socialists opt out of Islamist-led coalition

Morocco’s main leftwing party said on Sunday it had decided not to take part in a government coalition led by the country’s moderate Islamists.

The Socialist Union of Popular Forces, founded by the iconic opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka, came third in the November 25 legislative election and had been in talks to join a broad government coalition.

“The USFP is now part of the opposition, following a decision made Sunday by its national council,” Driss Lachgar, a member of the party’s political bureau, told AFP.

Abdelilah Benkirane, who was appointed prime minister by King Mohammed VI after his Justice and Development Party (PJD) secured the most votes in last month’s poll, had asked the USFP to join his government.

“By joining the opposition, our political party will contribute to developing the country’s democracy,” Lachgar said.

The PJD, which became the latest religious party to make electoral gains in the region on the back of the Arab Spring pro-democracy revolts, still has plenty of options to form a parliamentary majority.

As Tunisia and Egypt ousted their longtime dictators through popular uprisings earlier this year, Morocco’s king nipped swelling protests in the bud by offering a constitutional reform that curbed his near absolute powers.