Meanwhile the vote for new Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch's Rassemblement national des indépendants (RNI) the Parti authenticité et modernité (PAM) and some other Makhzen-approved parties was inflated by 'investment' in rural electorates...

When King Mohammed VI (M6) asked billionaire businessman Aziz Akhannouch to form a government their meeting on 10 September formalised the victory of secular over Islamist factions in Morocco's version of the culture wars (AC Vol 60 No 25 Activist King vs the activists)...

PREMIER AKHANNOUCH – THE NEW MAN IN A SUIT A highly ambitious Swasa Berber from the southern Sousse region Aziz Akhannouch has finally achieved his ambition to form a government...

Grandstanding is a speciality of hyperactive Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Aziz Akhannouch who in five years has reshaped the ‘loyalist' Rassemblement national des indépendants (RNI) as a genuine national force...

Aziz Akhannouch continues to position the Rassemblement national des indépendants (RNI) as a potential majority party of government in spite of his Afriquiya petrol stations being one of three major local brands targeted by an unprecedented consumer boycott which launched on social media in April 2018 (AC Vol 59 No 17 Wrath rules & Vol 58 No 2 Benkirane's 'bras de fer')...

Prominent members of the political and business elite came under fire and there were boycotts of Aziz Akhannouch's Afriquiya petrol stations Meriem Bensalah-Chaqroun's Ouelmès mineral water and Danone yoghurt (AC Vol 59 No 17 Wrath rules)...

Its leader petroleum products billionaire-turned-Agriculture Minister and M6's favourite politician at the moment Aziz Akhannouch has proposed a wide-ranging policy for overhauling and modernising Moroccan society and politics at glittery rallies (AC Vol 58 No 2 Benkirane's 'bras de fer' & Vol 58 No 21 M6's apprentices)...

The Makhzen (ruling establishment) and its allies in big business have been hit in their pockets by an unprecedented social media campaign which started in April when under the hashtag #boycott critics of rising prices and the ruling political and business elite called on Moroccans to shun the products of three major groups: Aziz Akhannouch's Afriquia petrol stations Miriem Bensalah-Chaqroun's Oulmès mineral water and the French brand Danone's yoghurt...

Prime Minister Saad Eddine el Othmani is more compliant than his predecessor Abdelilah Benkirane who like other 'populist' politicians faces political isolation and policy is driven by M6 allies such as Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhannouch in a return to prominence of Makhzen figures (AC Vol 58 No 2 Benkirane's 'bras de fer' & Vol 58 No 21 M6's apprentices)...

A more proactive Palace has helped to promote the political fortunes of a close ally the multi-millionaire businessman Agriculture Minister and Rassemblement national des indépendants leader Aziz Akhannouch (AC Vol 58 No 2 Benkirane's 'bras de fer')...