Moroccan Lawmaker Headbutts Parliament President, Sending Him to Hospital

While they (the PAMists) were in the middle of selecting candidates for the election of PAM deputies to the office of the House of Representatives, there was apparently a disgruntled person. Not from the selection itself, which also has everything to displease him, but from the behavior towards him of Hakim Benchamach, the President of the House of Advisors. He therefore sent him to the mat, via a violent headbutt. These facts are reported by the site Goud.ma.

This is why Benchemach, also the SG of the party, had to be rushed to the hospital, according to the words of the author of the headbutt, Sidi Brahim El Joumani, deputy of the Rabat constituency: "Things were going forward and the secretary general took care of managing the consensus and appointing candidates up to par." The enthusiasm is always there at this stage, El Joumani apparently considering himself a candidate up to par. But the rest comes to complicate things: "I ran for the position of second vice-president of the 1st Chamber but I was surprised that he did not call me and did not inform me of anything." In short, according to the deputy: "For him, we have no value."

Far from opening hostilities, he tries something else: asking for explanations. Perhaps indeed Benchemach will appease him by explaining his reasons to him. But... "When I called him to get explanations, he didn’t answer me. And what happened happened (NDLR: the headbutt)."

El Joumani was suspended by his party. But the case is not closed yet. Moreover, it was flatly denied by the deputy Mohamed Aboudrar, freshly elected at the head of the deputies of the Tractor party in the House of Representatives, on his Facebook account where we can read: "What is relayed by the media is only allegations" and "The meeting was friendly, marked by freedom of expression and mutual respect."