RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Morocco's elusive King Mohammed VI inaugurates parliament Friday in a speech with far higher stakes than in recent years, as anti-government protests sweep the nation's cities, questioning the government's spending priorities.

He’s the country’s highest authority, but Mohammed VI rarely addresses the public and often leaves it to ministers or members of the royal family to represent Morocco internationally. Decades ago dubbed Morocco’s “King of the Poor,” he now faces a public expressing disillusionment with slow progress and widening economic divides.

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