Aziz Akhannouch, the billionaire appointed by King Mohammed VI as head of the Moroccan government

Rabat

- King Mohammed VI received, Friday evening, the head of the National Rally of Independents, Aziz Akhannouch, and appointed him head of the Moroccan government.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Royal Palaces and Honors, King Akhannouch was tasked with forming the government in accordance with the requirements of the constitution.

The appointment of Akhannouch, 60, as prime minister, comes after his party led the parliamentary elections that took place on Wednesday, September 8, and won 102 parliamentary seats out of 395.

Article 47 of the Moroccan constitution stipulates that the king appoints the head of government from the party that leads the election results for members of the House of Representatives.

King Mohammed VI during his meeting with the head of the National Rally of Independents, Aziz Akhannouch, and his appointment as head of the new Moroccan government (communication sites)

Petrol Emperor

The appointed head of government hails from the Amazigh region of Souss, the same region from which outgoing Prime Minister Saad al-Din al-Othmani hails, and is known for the propensity of its residents to engage in commerce.

Akhannouch was born in the city of Tafraout (center) in 1961. He is married and the father of three children. He completed his studies at the Canadian University of Shebrook, where he obtained an MBA.

He returned to Morocco to manage and develop his father's companies, where he founded the "Aqua" economic group, which, according to Moroccan media, acquires a 40% share of the country's hydrocarbons market, 45% of the butane gas market, and 62% of the liquefied petroleum gas market. The press calls him "the emperor of hydrocarbons" and "the billionaire".

From business to politics

Akhannouch entered politics when he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in 2007 in Abbas El Fassi's government, after joining the National Rally of Independents, which is known for its elite businessmen and dignitaries.

However, he froze his membership in the party to remain in office after the assembly turned towards the opposition following the Justice and Development Party's victory in the elections that followed the February 20, 2011 movement, and assigning Abdelilah Benkirane to form the first Islamist-led government in the country.

Akhannouch appeared more prominently in the political scene when he was elected head of the National Rally of Independents, succeeding Salah El-Din Mezouar in 2016.

He led a bloc that included his party and 3 other parties: the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, the Popular Movement, and the Constitutional Union.

Akhannouch made it a condition for the prime minister of the second Islamist government, Abdelilah Benkirane, for this quadripartite bloc to enter the government and the exclusion of the Istiqlal Party from it.

Benkirane's rejection of Akhannouch's conditions led to the suspension of negotiations and a state of "political blockage" that lasted for 5 months, and ended with the expulsion of Benkirane from heading the government and the appointment of Saad Eddine El Othmani as his successor, so that the government was formed after a week of negotiations according to Akhannouch's terms.

Akhannouch during an electoral activity in the suburbs of the capital, Rabat (French)

image restoration

Akhannouch's image was popularly damaged during the economic boycott campaign that started on social media in 2018, and moved to reality, and included 3 brands, including his own fuel distribution company.

Some referred to him as one of the symbols of the "marriage of money and power", but he managed to bypass the impact of the campaign and return to the political front with force.

In 2019, Akhannouch launched a communication program called "100 Days, 100 Cities", in which he and his party leaders toured small and medium cities and villages, and held direct communication meetings with residents and listened to their concerns, suggestions and ideas in preparation for the parliamentary and municipal elections.

Akhannouch monitored for his electoral campaign, which came with the slogan "You deserve better" (you deserve the best) logistical means and large funds that the rest of the political parties were unable to match, which made them accuse him and his party of using political money to influence voters.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, hinting to Akhannouch, the Secretary-General of the opposition Authenticity and Modernity Party, Abdel Latif Wahbi, said, "He who commits these actions does not deserve to be prime minister tomorrow, because when he cheats in the electoral process, he will cheat in his position as prime minister."

The Moroccan king (right) and the Moroccan prime minister-designate (French-Reuters)

representative of the national bourgeoisie

Akhannouch is described as a "friend of the king" and "representative of the national bourgeoisie" in the government.

A number of Moroccan media worked to present him throughout the election year as the head of the next government, after he spent 14 years as Minister of Agriculture and the expected alternative to the Islamists.

Akhannouch is facing criticism about the profits he made as a result of lifting fuel subsidies, criticisms made by former Prime Minister Benkirane before the end of the election campaign, as well as the Secretary-General of the Authenticity and Modernity Party Abdellatif Wehbe, but Akhannouch ignored them and refused to respond to them.

Despite this, Akhannouch's popularity increased last year when one of his companies donated one billion dirhams (about 112 million dollars) to the fund for managing the Corona pandemic.

It is the fund that the King ordered to create to counter the economic repercussions of the pandemic.

Akhannouch is classified, according to Forbes magazine, which specializes in ranking the world's rich, among the list of the richest Arabs.

This year, he ranked 13th among Arab billionaires, and 1664th among the world's richest people, with a fortune of $1.9 billion.

Powers of the Prime Minister

According to Article 47 of the constitution, the king appoints the head of government from the party that came out with the results of the parliamentary elections, and appoints members of the government on the proposal of its president.

It is expected that Aziz Akhannouch, Prime Minister No. 17 in the history of the Kingdom since independence, will initiate consultations with the rest of the parties to form a government majority, and then propose members of the government to the king, who will officially appoint it in preparation for taking the oath.

After that, the head of government presents its program before both houses of parliament, and after discussing it, it is voted on in the parliament.

The government is considered installed after obtaining the confidence of the House of Representatives by a majority vote.

The 2011 constitution expanded the powers of the prime minister, the name that replaced the “Prime Minister,” by adding new powers to him by presiding over some constitutional councils (the Ministerial Council and the Supreme Security Council) with a mandate from the king, appointing directors of strategic public institutions, and relieving ministers.

Moroccans are waiting for a change in the economic and political situation of the Kingdom in the next five years, and the fulfillment of the promises made by the Liberal Party and its president, Aziz Akhannouch, which are divided into 5 commitments and 25 measures, including improving the education and health sectors and providing jobs.