Morocco's Benkirane Named Prime Minister

As expected, Morocco's King has named Abdelilah Benkirane Prime Minister in the wake of the elections, in which the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) won 107 of the 395 seats in Parliament. The old nationalist party, the Istiqlal, which had headed the last government, ran second with 60 seats. Full results by party are here.


Under reforms passed this year, the Prime Minister will be the leader of the largest party in Parliament. While the PJD may test the limits of the system, the King retains control over all matters relating to defense, national security, and religion,  which is the main reason I and other observers have not spent as much time on the Moroccan elections as on Tunisia's and Egypt's.