Islamist PJD wins Moroccan elections

Morocco’s Justice and Development Party (PJD) has won the most seats in the North African country’s parliamentary elections that concluded this morning.

The Islamist PJD were ahead in Friday’s parliamentary election over rivals the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) with 90 per cent of votes counted, Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad said announcing the initial results.

The results have now been confirmed, with the ruling PJD scooping 99 seats and PAM coming a close second with 80 seats in the 395 seat legislature.

The Istiqlal Party, Morocco’s oldest political party, took 31 seats according to the results, while voter turnout was a meagre 43 per cent.

Abdelilah Benkirane, the PJD’s leader and outgoing secretary-general, said: “This is a day of joy and a victory for democracy.”

“The Moroccan people have rewarded the PJD for the work we did in our previous term,” Benkirane told supporters after the results were announced.

Under Morocco’s political system no party can win an outright majority in the vote and the winner must form a coalition government. The minister said counting for another 90 seats set aside for women and youth lawmakers was still ongoing.

However, PAM spokesman Khaled Adnoun ruled out any coalition with the victorious PJD while hailing his party’s results.

“We are happy with the results, though we were expecting to take more seats…there will be no cooperation whatsoever with the PJD,” Adnoun announced.

The PJD first swept to power in November 2011, taking 107 seats, so the present results will be seen as a warning to the party leadership. PJD is now the first party in modern Moroccan history to win two consecutive terms in government, and will now begin the process of forming a coalition government.