Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi will meet the opposition Monday to discuss parliamentary polls but the impact of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia will weigh on the talks, parties told AFP.
The evening meeting of around a dozen parties comes with the Arab world mindful of the waves of street protests that toppled the hardline governments of Tunisia last month and Egypt less than a week ago.
The "impact of events in Egypt on Morocco will obviously be very present," said Lahcen Daoudi, president of the parliamentary group of the Islamist opposition Justice and Development Party.
The meeting will focus on political reforms linked to the parliamentary elections due in a year, said a leader of the Party of Progress and Socialism which is a member of the governing coalition.
But the "impact of what happened in Tunisia and Egypt will without doubt weigh heavily on this meeting," another party official told AFP.
The prime minister also gathered opposition leaders three times last year, with the previous meeting in December.
Demands for political reforms are mounting in Morocco, which shares the same ingredients -- unemployment, a large young population and stark economic inequalities -- that triggered the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, with protests also erupting in other Arab countries.
Early this month a group of young Moroccans called on Facebook for a peaceful demonstration on February 20 for "major political reform".
Communications Minister Khalid Naciri responded by saying that Morocco "has been engaged for a long time in an irreversible process of democracy and opening the way for freedoms".
> AFP
