Morocco's king appoints businessman Aziz Akhannouch to head government

Rabat: Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Friday appointed businessman Aziz Akhannouch to lead the new government after his National Rally of Independents (RNI) won the parliamentary elections.

RNI is considered close to the palace and has been part of all coalition governments for the past 23 years except during a brief period between 2012 and 2013, reported Arab News

Akhannouch is a billionaire businessman and has led the RNI since 2016. Akhannouch came first in local elections as well, winning 9,995 of the 31,503 seats, and the regional poll with 196 of the 678 positions.

The RNI won 102 of parliament's 395 seats and defeated the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD). He has hailed "the popular will for change" and called the results "a victory for democracy". This is the first time Morocco's 18 million voters cast ballots in both parliamentary and local elections on the same day.