Morocco's king has named Saad Eddine El Othmani from Islamist PJD Party as the country's new prime minister and asked him to form a government, according to a royal statement published by the MAP state news agency on Friday.
Othmani served as foreign minister between 2011-2013 and had since served as the head of the PJD's parliamentary group.
King Mohammed VI announced on Wednesday he would replace Abdelilah Benkirane as prime minister with another member of the PJD in an effort to break a five-month post-election deadlock. [...]
Under Morocco's election law no party can win an outright majority in the 395-seat parliament, making coalition governments a necessity in a system where the king still holds ultimate power.
But the PJD failed to form a majority despite five months of intense negotiations - the longest time Morocco has been without a government in its recent history.
Benkirane proposed to rebuild his outgoing coalition, an alliance comprising a range of parties including other Islamists, liberals and ex-communists.
However, he faced opposition from Aziz Akhannouch - leader of the National Rally of Independents (RNI) and a billionaire former agriculture minister who critics say is close to the king - and the resulting power struggle quickly led to political impasse.
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