It took Abdellatif Ouahbi only a few words to shut down the rumor mill. As speculation spread throughout Sunday morning that he was about to be named head of Morocco’s next government, the Justice Minister and senior figure of the Authenticity and Modernity Party met the claim with a shrug and a joke rather than an angry denial.
Asked by a reporter from the news outlet Medar21 whether the reports of his imminent appointment were true, Ouahbi simply said he had just woken up from a nap, making it clear he had learned about the story from social media like everyone else, well after it had already spread across newsrooms and timelines.
The claim originated from the newspaper Al Ousbou Al Sahafi, which said it had obtained « exclusive » information indicating that Ouahbi would be appointed head of government that very Sunday. The paper cited sources it described as close to political circles and pointed to Article 47 of Morocco’s constitution, which requires the head of government to come from the party that wins the most seats in the legislative elections.
That detail is not irrelevant: the Authenticity and Modernity Party did emerge as the strongest force after the September 23 legislative vote, which was enough to set tongues wagging about who among its leadership might end up running the executive branch. But translating an electoral result into an official nomination is a different matter altogether, one that a single newspaper report cannot settle on its own.
In Morocco, the head of government is appointed directly by the King, following consultations conducted privately within the Royal Cabinet, not announced in advance through press leaks, however confident their sourcing. Such rumors are a familiar feature of the days following a tight election, when every leading party sees its top names attached to every conceivable scenario circulating in the capital.
For now, nothing confirms that the post will indeed go to Ouahbi, whose half-amused, half-weary response mostly reflected the frustration of a politician forced to react to news he discovered at the same time as the public. Only an official statement from the Royal Cabinet will settle who, from the PAM or elsewhere, will be tasked with forming Morocco’s next government.
