(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-11 14:37

RABAT -- Morocco's political equation did not witness any major realignments even after the weekend's legislative elections which had a voter turn-out of about 37 percent.

Istiqlal party leader Abbas el Fassi celebrates with supporters at the party headquarters in Rabat September 9, 2007. [Reuters]

According to the final results proclaimed Monday by the Moroccan interior ministry, the outgoing parliamentary majority, which was composed of five political parties, namely, Socialist union for popular forces (USFP), nationalist party of Istiqlal, popular movement (MP), Rally for national independent candidates ( RNI) and social progress party (PPS), once again succeeded in maintaining their dominant position across the political landscape in the country with a combined 187 seats in the upcoming lower house of parliament.

Despite the decline of USFP, the first party to be relegated into fifth position among the leading political forces in the country, the ruling coalition theoretically maintains a comfortable parliamentary majority.

Istiqlal party, which held the second position on the political scene, was catapulted to first position with 52 seats, followed by MP which bagged 41 seats, RNI with 39 seats, USFP with 38 seats and PPS which managed 17 seats.

USFP, which had 50 seats in the outgoing parliament, lost 12 seats in last week's legislative elections emerging as the main loser, and was outclassed nationally by Istiqlal party which gained four additional seats.

The Islamic moderate party of PJD, the leading political party in Morocco, which held 42 seats in the previous lower house of parliament, only managed to win four additional seats, while it had presented parliamentary candidates in 94 out of 95 constituencies, compared to about 50 in the 2002 legislative elections.

PJD had hoped to garner at least 70 to 80 seats during the polls, to become Morocco's leading political party and even form the next government with a majority coalition. Certain foreign media had even forecasted the emergence of an Islamic party in Morocco.

Moroccan legislative elections were marked by the entry and participation of seven new political parties. The provision stipulated by law, that each party must have a minimum of 6 percent of the votes casts to have a representation in the lower house of parliament, led to the elimination of nine political parties from the race, as they did not win any seat.

According to the final results, the six leading political parties obtained a combined 243 seats in the lower house of parliament out of 325 seats, while 18 other parties and independent candidates won the remaining 82 seats.

However, the voter turn-out in this year's Moroccan legislative elections, was only 37 percent, lower than the 52 percent registered in 2002 and the 60 percent in 1997. Rural voters played a major part in defining the country's parliamentary map with a massive voter turn-out of 43 percent, compared to a voter turn-out of 30 percent by urban voters.

The president of the international observer mission, former Bolivian president Jorge Fernandouiroga Ramirez, affirmed over the weekend that his mission did not come across any corrupt practices during the voting process on Friday. Fifty-two foreign observers, invited for the first time in Morocco, visited 375 polling stations on voting day in 12 regions.

A total of 6,691 candidates, representing 33 political parties, contested 295 seats in the lower house of parliament across 95 constituencies, and 30 seats reserved for women candidates nationally.