Moderate Islamists Declare Victory in Moroccan Election

"We thank the Moroccans who voted for the PJD and we can only be satisfied," Benkirane told Agence France Presse.

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Morocco's current Prime Minister, Abbas Al Fassi, said on Saturday his nationalist Istiqlal party will enter into a coalition with the PJD.

"The PJD's victory is a victory for democracy," Fassi told Reuters.

The PJD’s victory is somewhat similar to what recently happened in Tunisia, where the moderate Islamist Ennahda party won an election last month.

Prior to the Morocco election, some anti-government protesters -- including the pro-reform "February 20" movement -- called for a boycott of the vote because they felt the king’s reforms did not go far enough. Among other things, the monarch will still solely dictate policy over such key issues as the military, security and religion. Indeed, he also retains the right to appoint ambassadors and diplomats.

Others feared the king would not actually implement some of the modest reforms he had promised.

However, the amended constitution does provide for greater powers to the prime minister and parliament. For example, the PM will now have the right to appoint government officials and dissolve parliament.

The boycott campaign was apparently partially successful -- the Interior Ministry reported that 45.4 percent of the 13.5 million Moroccans eligible to vote actually turned out (but higher than many had expected).

Najib Chawki, an activist for “February 20,” told Reuters after the vote: "This [low turnout] sends a strong signal to authorities that Moroccans are not buying the proposed reforms. We will not give up until our demands are met.”

Thirty-one political parties dueled for the 395 seats in the lower house of parliament, meaning no one party could ever gain a decisive majority. However, as a concession to modernity, 60 of the overall seats in parliament are reserved for women, while 30 are kept for young people.