By the CNN Wire Staff
A Moroccan voter casts her ballot in the legislative election at a polling station in Rabat on November 25, 2011.
(CNN) — Moroccans head to the polls Friday in the country’s first parliamentary elections since adopting a new constitution following protests over unemployment and corruption.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. local time in the North African country, state media reported.
Both parliament and the prime minister will have greater powers under the new constitution, while the monarch’s sway has been lessened.
More than 300 international observers will monitor the voting, alongside 3,500 Moroccan observers, the semiofficial Le Matin newspaper reported.
The elections were first set for September 2012, but were rescheduled after negotiations between the interior ministry, which oversees elections, and some 20 political parties.
Morocco’s moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party is expected to do well in the vote.
The changes to the constitution, approved in a July referendum, included measures to weaken the king’s power and boost the government’s.
The country’s prime minister will now be elected, rather than King Mohammed VI selecting his own nominee for the job.
The changes came after thousands of Moroccans took to the streets to demonstrate earlier this year, inspired by the Arab Spring.
The youth-based February 20 Movement called for jobs and an end to corruption its members say stems from royal cronies.
