Benkirane refuses to participate in the Bam government because of the forgery of Tangier

The Secretary-General of the Justice and Development Party, Abdelilah Benkirane , refused to participate in any government led by the Party of Authenticity and Modernity, after the latter won first place in the legislative elections of September 23, 2026 with 97 seats . The announcement came on Thursday, September 24, in the Lamp Party's first official reaction to the ballot results. The reasons for the refusal, Benkirane justified his position on suspicions of the integrity of the ballot, pointing to an audio recording suggesting the forgery of records in the city of Tangier, at a time when a similar incident in the city of Settat is under investigation He considered any government led by authenticity and contemporary in these circumstances to be “a government whose legitimacy is questionable,” predicting its failure because the winning party is “unusual and dangerous,” as he put it. He stressed that "there is absolutely no room for his party to participate with these people," preferring to fight the opposition instead of entering into a government coalition. Benkirane reinforced his position with data monitored by independent polling monitoring bodies, which documented 59 suspected vote-buying cases and 279 steering-related breaches within voting offices at the national level, figures seen by opponents The results are that they call into question the integrity of the entire electoral process. A strong return to the AKP comes despite the fact that the Musbah Party made a remarkable leap in the number of its seats, from 13 deputies in the previous term to 54 seats this time, which was presented by Benkirane as evidence of the "renewal" of the party and its ability to mobilize in various parties. The Secretary-General was keen to maintain a friendly relationship with Fawzi Lajja, a potential candidate for prime minister, despite his refusal to participate with him. What about forming a government? For her part, the Secretary-General of the Originality and contemporaneity, Fatima al-Zahra al-Mansouri, that the selection of the next prime minister is an "inherent competence of His Majesty the King" under Article 47 of the Constitution, adding that her party does not put "any red line" in front of any political formation that respects the country's constants to sit with it in the government coalition. It did not specify any timetable for the appointment of the new prime minister. These developments come in light of a participation rate that did not exceed 38.02% in the ballot, that is, a reluctance that reached about 62% of the registered voters, which was considered by the President of the National Council for Human Rights Amina Bouayach is an indicator that requires attention regarding the relationship of citizens with elected institutions.