RABAT: Morocco's King Mohammed VI has named Aziz Akhanouch of the liberal National Rally of Independents Party, or RNI, as the country's new prime minister and tasked him with forming a government.
Akhanouch's appointment was announced Friday, two days after parliamentary elections in the North African country. He replaces outgoing prime minister Saad Eddine El Othmani from the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD).
The new prime minister said that following his meeting with the king that he will begin negotiations with potential coalition partners in order to form a government. This will not include the PJD, whose leadership resigned en masse after losing the elections to the RNI, which took over a quarter of all seats.
A former agriculture minister, Akhanouch is a billionaire and one of Morocco's richest men.