The election for the 325 seats in the House of Representatives -- including 30 reserved for women -- is by proportional representation. The system does not allow any of the 33 competing parties to get a ruling majority. And none of the mainstream parties want to link up with the PJD.
But the PJD secretary general Saad Eddine Othmani is still predicting that the Islamists will get at least one million of the 15.5 million eligible votes and at least 70 seats in the chamber.
At the last election in 2002, the PJD won 42 seats but was kept out of the governing coalition led by Driss Jettou, a non-political figure specially chosen by the king to head a five party coalition including the Union of Socialist Popular Forces (USFP) and the nationalist Istiqlal party.
Othmani promised "more seriousness, more honesty and more transparence" if he were to become prime minister.
But the king chooses the head of government and analysts say Mohammed VI is more likely to pick someone out of whatever coalition is assembled, or a technocrat like Jettou.
The outgoing government has highlighted its record of embarking on major infrastructure works, boosting public housing, reforming family law and paying compensation to victims of human rights abuses between 1960 and 1999.
Morocco, with its sunshine, sea and desert, has also seen huge growth in tourism. Several billion dollars has been invested in the sector this year, with much coming from cash rich Gulf enterprises.
While none of the parties questions the monarchy, where most power is concentrated, some left wing parties in the election are calling for constitutional reforms. Three allied extreme left wing groups have put these reforms at the centre of their election programs.
One of the leaders of the radicals, Abderrahmane Benameur, 74, has demanded "a democratic constitution that guarantees a separation of powers, greater prerogatives for parliament from which should emerge a real government to manage public affairs."
Other parties, like the USFP which is the main rival to the Islamists in the battle to be the biggest in parliament, call such demands "absurd".
There will be a record number -- 6,691 -- competing for seats, but the turnout -- which has slid from 67 percent in 1984 to 52 percent in 2002 -- and signs of corruption, will be key credibility tests for the election.
"A strong turnout would give legitimacy to the poll and all of the policies carried out by the authorities since 2002," said Mohamed Darif, a professor of political science at Mohammedia University. "These are the real stakes," he added.
Mohammed VI made public his concerns in a speech on August 20 when he called on all parties to encourage the public to vote. He also called on the judiciary to "fight all forms of fraud".
The non-government groups Transparency Maroc and Democracy Reporting International (DRI) said in a report in January that "manipulation" and "various irregularities" occurred in the 2002 election, though it had been better than previous elections.
"There is a trust to be built after a long history of manipulation of elections," said the report.
The definitive results will only be announced on September 9, two days after the poll. |
