Islamist PJD party wins Morocco poll

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Islamist PJD party wins Morocco poll

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Moroccos moderate Islamist party won a parliamentary election for the first time.

27 November,2011 11:00 am

Preliminary results showed the latest religious party to achieve huge gains on the back of the Arab Spring.The victory by the Justice and Development Party (PJD) comes just one month after Islamists won Tunisias post-revolution election and days before their predicted surge in Egyptian polls. With 288 out of the 395 seats up for grabs awarded, the party had captured 80 seats in Fridays election, Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui told a news conference.That is nearly double the 45 seats won by Prime Minister Abbas el Fassis Independence Party which finished second and has headed a five-party coalition government since 2007. The interior ministry was to release final results today.“We thank the Moroccans who voted for the PJD and we can only be satisfied,” PJD secretary general Abdelilah Benkirane said.Cars honked their horns while passengers threw fliers out of car windows bearing images of a lamp, the party’s symbol, in Morocco’s seaside capital Rabat after the partial results were released.According to a new constitution overwhelmingly approved in a July referendum, King Mohammed VI must now pick the prime minister from the party that won the most seats in parliament instead of naming whomever he pleases. It was the king who proposed changes to the constitution in March, as autocratic regimes toppled in nearby Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya and pro-democracy protests swelled at home.King Mohammed is the latest scion of a monarchy that has ruled the country for 350 years. The new constitution curbs some, but not all, of his near-absolute powers.The Islamists will have to govern with other parties and Benkirane acknowledged his party would need to tailor its programme to appease prospective coalition partners. The PJD was “open to everyone” when it came to forming alliances, he said.The PJD has gradually increased its share of the vote in Morocco, seen as one of the most stable countries in the region.After winning just eight seats in 1997, it surged in popularity, scooping 42 seats in the 2002 election, the first of King Mohammed VI’s reign.