WITHDRAWAL OF PAM SUPPORT COULD JEOPARDIZE

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000436

SIPDIS

FOR NEA/MAG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2014
TAGS: PGOV MO
SUBJECT: WITHDRAWAL OF PAM SUPPORT COULD JEOPARDIZE
EL-FASSI GOVERNMENT

Classified By: Polcouns Craig Karp. Reason 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) The beginning of campaigning for the local elections
has been marked by a new controversy. Party of Authenticity
and Modernity (PAM) Secretary General Mohammed Sheikh
Biadillah announced May 29 that the PAM was withdrawing its
support for Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi's minority
government. The immediate cause was the PAM,s
dissatisfaction with a Ministry of Interior ruling, which has
been only intermittently applied, to not allow members of
Parliament who were elected on another party's ticket to run
in the June 12 local elections under the PAM banner. Article
5 of the election code prohibits such aisle-crossing. The
PAM, a party founded an led by royal confidante Fouad Ali El
Himma, has essentially built itself up from scratch to become
the largest political force in Parliament on the basis of
opportunistic alliances and many instances of party-jumping.
Biadillah's announcement appeared to contain some room for
compromise.


2. (C) PAM Vice president in the Chamber of Deputies Hamid
Narjisse, who also happens to be El Himma's uncle and one of
his closest advisers confirmed May 29 to PolCouns the
withdrawal of support. Narjisse added that while the PAM was
withholding support, it had not made any decision about
trying to actively work against or bring down the government,
which he said it could do. He indicated that the PAM was
continuing to negotiate and its actions would directly
reflect any progress. He asserted that the Ministry of
Interior, although a sovereign Ministry reporting directly to
the King, was very much part of the government and at least
to a degree, under the sway of PM El Fassi. Narjisse said
that this government link for MOI was part of the ongoing
informal democratic evolution in Morocco. He indicated,
however, that PAM had decided to take the candidate
eligibility dispute as far as it politically could go.


3. (C) Minister-Delegate of Economic and General Affairs
Nizar Baraka and PM El Fassi's top adviser, including for
Istiqlal party matters told Polcouns March 26 he expected a
reshuffling of the government after local elections,
depending in part on the outcomes.


4. (SBU) Party candidate lists for the Communal Council
elections were due and frozen as of May 29 and campaigning
was set to begin the next day.


5. (C) Comment: While not part of the government, the PAM
has an announced policy of voting with the government and
thus in theory, has been the sole force keeping the El Fassi
cabinet in power. There are several parties in the
opposition that are not really opposed to it, including the
Berber-oriented Movement Populaire and several smaller
formations. In a crunch, however, it would not be surprising
that they would vote for the government in a vote of
confidence, though they might demand a price. This suggests
that some kind of compromise is inevitable. We also cannot
rule out that this whole dispute, the culmination of weeks of
sniping back and forth, was part of an elaborate scheme to
make the PAM look like an outsider in the elections, and to
give the contest some air of excitement. End comment.


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Jackson