RABAT, 15 September 2003 — Morocco’s nationalist conservative party Istiqlal was the clear winner and will fill just under 17 percent of local government seats, according to official results of municipal elections published yesterday.
The elections — the first under King Mohammed VI — were overshadowed by the murder of two Jews in Casablanca and Meknes.
Police has so far ruled out a political connection but the Jewish community — the biggest in any Arab country — said they suspected terrorists behind the killings.
Second strongest party in the elections were the socialists (USFP) of former Prime Minister Abd ar-Rahman Al-Youssoufi with 14.7 percent, followed by the centrist RNI with 12.4 percent.
The moderate Islamist Party for Justice and Development (PJD) gained strong support even though it had agreed in negotiations with the government to put up candidates in only half the constituencies to avoid an “Islamisation” of the country. It won 320,000 votes and will now provide 16 councilors in Casablanca’s local government, only three less than Istiqlal.
Around 14.6 million Moroccan voters had been registered to go to the polls on Friday to elect nearly 24,000 town councilors and mayors to 1,500 councils.
The PJD had more than trebled its seats in Parliament last year. But this time it was under close government scrutiny after Islamic radicals shook the Muslim kingdom in May with massive attacks in Casablanca.
Under government pressure, the party fielded candidates in only 20 percent of constituencies and finished in eleventh place overall. The outcome was expected but analysts warned against reading too much into it.
