RABAT: An Islamist party won the most seats in Morocco’s parliamentary elections and will now be chosen to lead the next government in the kingdom and close US ally, according to final results.
The Justice and Development Party won 107 seats in the 395-seat legislature following the voteon Friday — almost twice as much as its nearest competitor.
The king will now choose someone from the PJD— known by its French initials — to form a coalition out of the dozen parties making up the new parliament.
“The victory of the PJD is an historic step towards democracy, this is a point of no return,” party leader Abed Ilah Benkirane said at packed news conference Sunday night. “I promise a strong government that will give hope to Moroccans.”
Party supporters afterwards left the headquarters in trucks to drive around the city, chanting the name of the party name and honking horns in celebration.
The PJD is the latest Islamist party to win an election brought about by the Arab Spring, following Ennahda’s victory in Tunisia last month.
Morocco has been swept this year by pro-democracy protests decrying lack of freedoms and widespread corruption. King Mohammed VI sought to defuse tensions by ordering a constitutional reform that gives parliament more power and moving up legislative elections by a year.
Activists still called for an election boycott but slightly more people participated in Friday’s election than the last parliamentary contests.
The PJD has already announced it is ready to form a coalition with the “Democratic Bloc,” a coalition of three parties, including the second place Istiqlal with 60 seats, the left of center Union of Progressive Socialist Forces with 39 seats, and the former communist party with 18 seats.
The alliance would give the Islamists a commanding majority of 224 seats. A coalition of eight pro-palace parties amassed only around 150 seats..
“Our goal has always been the stability of the country even as we firmly demanded reforms. The results are better than we expected,” Benkirane told cheering supporters.
Under the new constitution the king, the latest scion of a monarchy that has ruled the country for 350 years, must now choose a prime minister from the winning party. The new prime minister will also have the power to appoint government ministers and dissolve parliament.
The election was originally planned for September 2012 but the monarchbrought the vote forward to create a new government that could put in place the constitutional reforms.
“We are going to wait for King Mohammed VI to nominate a prime minister before we start talks with other political parties,” Benkirane said after the final results were announced.
An Islamist party has never been allowed in the government. Since the PJD will have to govern in a coalition with several other parties, it is not expected to make radical changes in policy.
Benkirane, 57, who sports close-cropped white hair and matching beard, acknowledged that his party would have to tailor its programme to appease its coalition partners.
“But the nub of our programme and of those who will govern with us will have a double axis, democracy and good governance,” he told the France 24 television on Saturday after the interior ministry released partial results that showed his party had won the most seats.
Agencies
