African leaders gather in Aswan to navigate global shifts and continental progress    Egypt's FM joins Sahel region roundtable at Aswan Forum    Egypt's Public Enterprise Minister discusses tourism projects with TMG    Egypt successfully hosts Egyptian Amateur Open golf championship with 19-nation turnout    Africa can lead global recovery, Egypt's Sisi tells Aswan Forum    Egypt, WHO sign 2024-2028 country cooperation strategy    From Impression to Analysis: What International Performance Indicators Reveal about Egypt    Supply Minister: No change in subsidised bread price amid diesel hike    Egypt to launch new export system to streamline trade, boost competitiveness    Health ministers adopt 'Cairo Call to Action' to tackle breast cancer across Eastern Mediterranean    Al-Sisi reviews Cairo Airport's new terminal project designed to handle 30 million passengers annually    Egypt's Al-Mashat discusses MIGA portfolio, second EU assistance tranche with officials    Pakistan says preemptive strikes thwarted planned militant attacks from Afghanistan    Egypt, India hold first strategic dialogue to deepen ties    Egypt: Guardian of Heritage, Waiting for the World's Conscience    Egypt, Qatar sign MoU to boost cooperation in healthcare, food safety    Egypt, UK, Palestine explore financing options for Gaza reconstruction ahead of Cairo conference    Egypt will never relinquish historical Nile water rights, PM says    Egypt explores cooperation with Chinese firms to advance robotic surgery    AUC makes history as 1st global host of IMMAA 2025    Al Ismaelia launches award-winning 'TamaraHaus' in Downtown Cairo revival    Al-Sisi, Burhan discuss efforts to end Sudan war, address Nile Dam dispute in Cairo talks    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile actions, calls for global water cooperation    Egypt unearths one of largest New Kingdom Fortresses in North Sinai    Egypt unearths New Kingdom military fortress on Horus's Way in Sinai    Egypt Writes Calm Anew: How Cairo Engineered the Ceasefire in Gaza    Egypt's acting environment minister heads to Abu Dhabi for IUCN Global Nature Summit    Egyptian Open Amateur Golf Championship 2025 to see record participation    Cairo's Al-Fustat Hills Park nears completion as Middle East's largest green hub – PM    Syria releases preliminary results of first post-Assad parliament vote    Karnak's hidden origins: Study reveals Egypt's great temple rose from ancient Nile island    Egypt resolves dispute between top African sports bodies ahead of 2027 African Games    Egypt reviews Nile water inflows as minister warns of impact of encroachments on Rosetta Branch    Egypt aims to reclaim global golf standing with new major tournaments: Omar Hisham    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Early results show Islamist party lead in Morocco
Published in Youm7 on 26 - 11 - 2011

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Election results for the first 78 seats in Morocco's parliament announced by the state news agency early Saturday suggest a moderate Islamist party is taking about 36 percent of the seats.
With just a fraction of the results for the 395-seat Parliament reported, the opposition Justice and Development Party looks to have dramatically increased its share.
Party Secretary General Abdelilah Benkirane said late Friday that by its own estimates, his party had come in first.
A coalition of eight liberal, pro-government parties led by Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar have amassed slightly more seats so far than the Islamists in the preliminary results, but according to the new constitution the party with the most seats gets first crack at forming a new government.
If the trend continues, the Islamists must find coalition partners willing to work with them.
In recent years Morocco's Islamists have cultivated an image as honest outsiders battling corruption and seeking to improve services, rather than focusing on moral issues such as the women's headscarf.
Morocco, a close U.S. ally and popular European tourist destination suffers from high unemployment and widespread poverty.
If the Islamists do end up winning the most seats, that would appear to confirm a trend of victories by Islamist parties in elections prompted by the Arab Spring, following Ennahda's win last month in Tunisia.
With dozens of parties running and a complex system of proportional representation, Morocco's parliaments are typically divided up between many parties each with no more than a few dozen seats, requiring complex coalitions that are then dominated by the king.
Like the rest of the region, Morocco was swept by pro-democracy protests decrying widespread corruption, which the king attempted to defuse over the summer by ordering the constitution modified to grant more powers to the Parliament and prime minister and then holding elections a year earlier.
Activists, however, have called the moves insincere and clamored for a boycott.
The government announced a 45-percent turnout in Friday's contest, slightly more than legislative elections in 2007, but still less than local elections in 2009 and the summer's constitutional referendum.
The partial results dovetail with those witnessed by The Associated Press during the counting in a single polling station in an affluent neighborhood in Rabat.
The PJD, as the Islamists are known by their French initials, took 40 percent of the vote, with the rest divided between another half dozen parties.
At that polling station, at least 16 percent of the ballots were either blank or invalid, often because voters had crossed out every party in protest at the choice.
In 2007, 19 percent of ballots were invalid.
In the course of Friday's vote a number of Moroccans, both those voting and not, expressed dissatisfaction with the political process and the choice of politicians.


Clic here to read the story from its source.