Pro-establishment party wins Morocco's parliament elections

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Voters in Morocco deprived an Islamist party of an expected parliamentary victory, handing it instead to the conservative Istiqlal party, according to preliminary results announced Saturday. In a surprisingly strong showing in Friday's vote, Istiqlal, of the ruling government coalition, had 46 seats in the 325-seat lower house of parliament, Interior Minister Mohamed Benaissa said. The Islam-inspired Justice and Development Party or PJD, whose growing strength in recent years had worried its secular rivals, had just 40 seats.