RABAT, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Morocco's moderate Islamic party won 80 seats in the ninth parliamentary elections held on Friday, according to preliminary results announced by Interior Minister Taieb Cherqaoui on Saturday, becoming the largest party that will lead the next government.
The Party of Justice and Development (PJD) has obtained 80 seats out of the released figure of 288 seats in the 395-seat parliament, Cherqaoui told a press conference here on Saturday.
According to Cherqaoui, the final results will be announced on Sunday.
The Istiqlal party, with which the PJD expects to form a coalition government, came in the second place with 45 seats, while PJD's main rival, the National Rally of Independents, won 38 seats, the interior minister said.
The PJD will be the second Islamic party in the region to lead the government after widespread unrest hit Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria.
The most recent parliamentary elections were held in September 2007, when the PJD came in second with 47 seats in the parliament behind the Istiqlal Party, which gained 52 seats and is the biggest party in the outgoing ruling coalition.
After learning his party's victory, PJD leader Abdelilah Benkirane said that he would hold consultations with other parties to form a ruling coalition.
Voter turnout in the parliamentary elections held Friday was 45 percent, up from the historical low of 37 percent in 2007. A total of 7,102 candidates were competing for the 395 seats in the parliament, 70 more than in the previous elections.
The elections came less than five months after a July 1 referendum on a new constitution, which was proposed by King Mohammed VI in an attempt to appease anti-government protests.
According to the new constitution, the king will appoint the prime minister from the party winning most seats in the parliament.
The prime minister is also empowered to dissolve the parliament and appoint and dismiss senior officials. The powers were restricted to the king before the referendum.
