Moroccan Ex-PM Benkirane Reveals Multiple Resignation Attempts to King Mohammed VI

"Without exaggerating, I will say that I have asked to be dismissed from the presidency of the government about five or six times...," Benkirane said during the gathering of the youth of his party in Bouznika last weekend. He claimed to have asked to leave after the outbreak of the case of the public channel’s service books under Minister Mustapha El Khalfi.

The PJD Secretary General recalls that this case "had caused a great stir and His Majesty summoned me, Si Baha and Si El Khalfi... And you know, the house of the Makhzen when the authority is present... I told the king at that time: ’I am ready to leave, Sire’... And His Majesty said to me: ’No, Si Benkirane, do not leave’... He told me more than once... He told me: ’If you leave, the Constitution will fall’..."

Benkirane also revealed the behind-the-scenes of his failed nomination as head of the Islamist government for the second time. "There was a blockage against me for a long time... And I was offered to lift the blockage and form the government... But I told my interlocutor: I will not accept these conditions... And for this reason, I was dismissed from the presidency of the government...," he confided.

The former Head of Government added that he had expressed his opposition on certain issues of interest such as the signing of the normalization agreement, or the framework law on education, which was ultimately adopted under the government of El Othmani. "This framework law is a shame for the Party of Justice and Development, forever, as long as it is not politically corrected," he insisted.

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