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Aziz Akhannouch's National Rally of Independents finished second in Morocco's parliamentary election with 66 seats, down from the 102 it won in 2021, according to provisional results announced early on Thursday by Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit.
The Authenticity and Modernity Party took 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives.
That almost certainly ends Akhannouch's time as head of government. King Mohammed VI appoints the prime minister from the party that finishes first, which is how Akhannouch got the job in October 2021 after his own party came top.
The party that beat him was already in his government. PAM sat in the coalition Akhannouch led and is closely aligned with the palace.
Behind them, Istiqlal took 65 seats, down from 81. The Justice and Development Party, the Islamist party that governed before 2021 and was nearly wiped out that year, went from 13 seats to 54. The Popular Movement took 29, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces 26, the Party of Progress and Socialism 19, the Constitutional Union 17 and the Left Alliance 8.
Nobody is close to governing alone. A majority requires 198 seats, so coalition talks follow.
Most Moroccans did not vote. Turnout was 38.02%, down from 50.35% in 2021, with about six million of 15.8 million registered voters casting ballots across a field of 28 parties.
Akhannouch is one of the wealthiest people in Africa. He runs Akwa Group, the conglomerate his father built, which distributes fuel through the Afriquia chain of filling stations and holds interests in gas, media and property, and he was running it when the king appointed him to run the country.
That combination has been a political problem throughout. Moroccans boycotted Afriquia stations in 2018 over fuel prices in a campaign that ran for months, and his government faced public anger over the cost of living and spending priorities during its final year. The outgoing cabinet's record is what the interior ministry's numbers reflect.
His business has also featured in disputes with other investors. Mohammed Al-Amoudi's Corral Petroleum argued in arbitration against Morocco that the state obstructed its investment in the country's only oil refinery in order to favour local companies including Afriquia, a claim the tribunal largely rejected.
Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri leads PAM, and Moroccan commentary has also put the budget minister Fouzi Lekjaa in the frame for the top job. The choice belongs to the king.
Akhannouch's party had campaigned on raising the minimum wage to 5,000 dirhams, about $521 a month, and creating a million jobs.
The results remain provisional until the Interior Ministry completes its count.
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