A new Moroccan political party grouping King Mohammed's staunchest supporters won most seats in local elections after pushing opposition Islamists to the sidelines, Reuters reported.
The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won 6,015 seats, giving it 21.7 percent of the vote, ahead of the governing Istiqlal (Independence) party with 5,292 seats and 19.1 percent, Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said Saturday.
PAM, created last year by activists from five small parties and leftist intellectuals, has positioned itself as an alternative to the Islamists and Istiqlal, and sought to combat voter apathy with promises to follow through on policy commitments.
It is the brainchild of Fouad Ali Himma, a former deputy interior minister and close friend of King Mohammed, who has won strong backing at home and abroad for reforms to combat poverty, improve the business climate and bolster women's rights.
The king, in power for almost a decade, controls the levers of government as head of state and religious leader.
The vote was the first major test for the governing coalition of conservatives and socialists since the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) scored its best result in 2007.
Critics of Istiqlal Prime Minister Abbas el Fassi say his administration lacks energy and direction. The government lost its parliamentary majority last month when PAM withdrew support.
The PJD won only 1,513 seats and 5.5 percent of the vote, leaving it in sixth place. It fielded fewer candidates than PAM and Istiqlal and was focusing on large towns where its support tends to be strongest.
Founding PJD member Mustapha Ramid said his party's ambitions foundered on a wave of vote-buying by rival parties. "On one side there was the PJD and on the other side there was money, only money," Ramid told Reuters.
He said he expected the PJD won most seats in northern cities like Casablanca, Rabat, Sale and Kenitra, but that other parties could keep it out of power there by forming coalitions.
Interior Minister Benmoussa said there were 1,767 complaints of irregularities in the election but incidents were "very minor" and did not affect the electoral process.
The authorities were hoping for a big turnout that would suggest a disillusioned population was re-connecting with the political system, especially in Morocco's large northern towns where poverty and youth unemployment are widespread.
The national turnout was 52.4 percent, below the 54 percent recorded in 2003 local elections but well above the 37 percent figure for legislative polls in 2007. Morocco's next parliamentary election is due in 2012.
Analysts attributed PAM's result to a slick campaign and a formidable party machine that fused local elites, business people, development workers and enthusiastic youngsters.
The party attacked under-performing town councils and tackled taboos like corruption and the hashish trade, said analyst and intellectual Noureddine Ayouch.
"But the main asset was Himma himself," said Ayouch.