By SOUAD MEKHENNET and MAÏA DE LA BAUME
RABAT, Morocco — A moderate Islamist party achieved major gains in Morocco’s parliamentary election, according to final returns announced by the government on Sunday, giving it the right to lead a coalition government. King Mohammed VI is now expected to choose a prime minister from the party, Justice and Development.
The election on Friday was the first under a new Constitution, which the king drafted in response to calls for more democracy inspired by the Arab Spring revolts.
The Constitution reserves important powers for the king, including in military and religious matters, and does not establish the kind of constitutional monarchy demanded by the protesters. But the government will be Morocco’s first popularly elected one, with the power to appoint ministers and dissolve Parliament.
In Tunisia last month, voters also elected a moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, in that country’s first free election.
According to figures released by Morocco’s Interior Ministry on Sunday, the Justice and Development Party won 107 seats in the 395-seat Parliament. The party of the incumbent prime minister, Istiqlal, the historic party of the monarchy, came in second with 60 seats, while the center-right National Rally of Independents, led by the incumbent finance minister, came in third, with 52 seats.
Despite the historic shift, Justice and Development is not expected to make any radical changes in policy, and is expected to include Istiqlal in its coalition. Founded in 1998, Justice and Development has always been loyal to the king and has long been the largest so-called opposition party in Morocco.
Its leader, Abdelilah Benkirane, claimed victory, saying the party would focus on democracy and governing. “Today what I can promise Moroccans is that I am going to try, I and the team which will work with me, to be more serious and more rational,” he told the French television station France 24 on Saturday.
The party has appealed to Morocco’s poor by focusing on economic and social issues, modeling itself on Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party, which has fused religion and modern politics.
“Like Ennahda in Tunisia, they are new, haven’t cheated people and have expressed a real need for change,” said Mounir Ferram, a political analyst. The party’s victory, he said, was a rejection of widespread corruption and reflected voters’ deep disenchantment with the governing party.
The new government, he said, will be “political electroshock” for the country.
The party, while vague on policy prescriptions, has condemned corruption and promised to address the yawning gap between rich and poor.
“We have a progressive approach to Islam,” Mustapha Ramid, a party leader, said in an interview. “The Islamicization of Morocco will be achieved only by re-establishing justice, and religious freedom.”
In contrast to Tunisians, Moroccans did not break with their ruler. King Mohammed VI, who has been in power since 1999, remains popular, and Moroccans approved his amended Constitution in a landslide in a July referendum.
The turnout on Friday was stronger than expected, despite a call for a boycott by the leaders of the pro-democracy protest movement, suggesting continued support for the king’s efforts. According to a provisional count, 45 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, up from 37 percent in the previous parliamentary election, in 2007, the Interior Ministry said.
While safeguarding critical royal powers, the Constitution tilts the balance slightly toward popular government. The judiciary will become an independent branch, with judges no longer required to be approved by the king.
The group that led the spring protests, the February 20 Movement for Change, has denounced the changes as inadequate, saying they reinforce royal prerogatives.
Justice and Development “will not be able to pass any laws without the king’s consent,” Fouad Abdelmoumni, a movement leader, said on Saturday. Democracy will begin, he said, only when “the king will withdraw from the space of political decision.”
The movement — a coalition of students, independents, leftist activists and Islamists — has held regular demonstrations and played a central role in pushing change and orchestrating protests against political corruption. It favors a constitutional monarchy, in which the king reigns but does not rule.
Souad Mekhennet reported from Rabat, and Maïa de la Baume from Paris.
