Government
"Preserving the abyss": the government programme sits a reading test
When the written speech turns out harder than the promises inside it.
The news
Head of Government Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri presented the government programme to Parliament on 19 October 2026. Clips of her stumbling over the text in Classical Arabic spread on social media.
According to Maroc Hebdo, one example shared was "صيانة الهاوية" (preserving the abyss) instead of "صيانة الهوية" (preserving identity).
Reactions varied: some called it unworthy of a decisive political moment, others played it down, citing accent and linguistic diversity.
Balwara index3/5
A slip can be forgiven. Promises can't.
The commentary
Satirical opinion from the editorsAnyone can misread, and we are not Arabic inspectors. But "preserving the abyss" is hard to walk past: it's the first time a government programme has admitted the real plan.
What matters isn't the vowel. What matters is whether this programme gets read in real life too, or stays on paper.