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Summary The Justice and Development Party (PJD) captured 107 seats in the 395 assembly in Morocco election.
A moderate Islamist party won the most seats in Moroccos parliamentary elections, final results showed Sunday, giving it the right to lead a coalition government for the first time.The victory comes less than a month after a moderate Islamist party won Tunisias first free election and days before their predicted surge in Egyptian polls in other elections brought on by the Arab Spring uprisings.The Justice and Development Party (PJD) captured 107 seats in the 395 assembly in Fridays polls, the Moroccan interior ministry said. It had 47 seats in the outgoing parliament, which made it the main opposition party.Our goal has always been the stability of the country even as we firmly demanded reforms. The results are better than we expected, PJD leader Abdelilah Benkirane told cheering supporters at the partys headquarters in Rabat.Under a new constitution proposed by King Mohammed VI in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings that was approved in a July referendum, the monarch must now choose a prime minister from the the winning party instead of naming whoever he pleases.The king, the latest scion of a monarchy that has ruled the country for 350 years, proposed changes to the constitution that curb some of his near absolute powers as autocratic regimes toppled in nearby Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya and pro-democracy protests brewed at home.Through the campaign Benkirane, who sports close-cropped white hair and matching beard, said his party would be willing to form an alliance with any party if it won the election.This is clear victory but we need to form an alliance to work together, he said after the final results were announced.We are going to wait for King Mohammed VI to nominate a prime minister before we start talks with other political parties.Two parties that make up the outgoing governing coalition -- the Independence Party of the incumbent prime minister and the Socialist Union of Popular Forces -- have said they would be willing to govern with the Islamist party.Benkirane acknowledged that his party would have to tailor its programme to appease its coalition partners.
