Former Moroccan PM Benkirane Urged to Run in 2021 Elections by PJD Party Members

Many are putting pressure within the PJD for the return to the political scene of Abdelilah Benkirane. According to some heavyweights of the party and the members of the Chabiba, the youth movement of the PJD party, in order to confront the opponents who have formed a coalition to sideline the Islamist party, Benkirane, the very famous orator, must file his candidacy for the 2021 legislative elections, reports Assabah.

These members of the PJD party, who are in favor of not limiting the candidacy to two terms in the internal regulations of the PJD, are working to stack the odds in their favor so that Benkirane’s name reaches the nominations committee, then the validation committee to be endorsed, the newspaper reports. Formerly supporters of the former Secretary General of the party, today it is rather the former boss of the party who is best placed to stand up to the opponents, the majority of whom are in the opposition, they said.

However, the bloc formed between these heavyweights and the youth movement has caused the resignation of some Islamist elected officials who prefer to ally with other "influential" parties to escape justice. This is what Aziz Rebbah, a member of the PJD General Secretariat, estimated during a visit on Sunday in the Drâa-Tafilalet region, stressing that the Secretariat had nevertheless rejected the resignation of these elected officials who wanted to join other parties.

The Minister of Energy and Mines, moreover, did not hide his dismay at seeing "officials" bring lawsuits, in a selective manner, against the presidents of local authorities where the PJD is present. Aziz Rebbah mentions the case of other commune presidents, from other parties, who are not at all worried, adding that the general secretariat of his party had rejected the resignation of those who were ready to take the step towards other political circles.