<p>The vote was the first since the approval of a new constitution in a July referendum that transferred some of the monarch's near absolute powers to parliament and the prime minister.<br /><br />Under the new constitution the king, the latest scion of a monarchy that has ruled the north African country for 350 years, must now choose a prime minister from the winning party instead of naming whoever he pleases, as in the past.<br /><br />The Justice and Development Party (PJD) captured 107 seats in the 395-seat assembly in Friday’s polls, according to final results released by the interior ministry on Sunday.<br /><br />“The results are better than we expected,” PJD leader Abdelilah Benkirane told cheering supporters at the party’s headquarters in Rabat, Morocco’s seaside capital, after the results were announced.<br /><br />Benkirane may meet with the king on Tuesday to be nominated prime minister, said PJD parliamentary bloc leader Lahcen Daoudi.<br /><br />“Abdelilah Benkirane could be received at the palace tomorrow (Tuesday) to be officially nominated,” he told AFP.<br /><br />“Benkirane will then start talks with the parties that should make up the coalition.”<br />The monarch proposed changes to the constitution as autocratic regimes were toppled in nearby Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya as part of the Arab Spring uprisings and pro-democracy protests brewed at home.<br /><br />The PJD election victory comes less than a month after a moderate Islamist party won Tunisia’s first free election and ahead of a predicted Islamist surge in Egyptian polls that got underway Monday.<br /><br />“The PJD ready to govern,” said business daily L’Economiste said on its front page on Monday. “The test of power,” said Aufait.<br /><br />An Islamist party has never been allowed in the government. Since the PJD will have to govern in a coalition with several other parties, it is not expected to make radical changes to policy.</p>
<p>The vote was the first since the approval of a new constitution in a July referendum that transferred some of the monarch's near absolute powers to parliament and the prime minister.<br /><br />Under the new constitution the king, the latest scion of a monarchy that has ruled the north African country for 350 years, must now choose a prime minister from the winning party instead of naming whoever he pleases, as in the past.<br /><br />The Justice and Development Party (PJD) captured 107 seats in the 395-seat assembly in Friday’s polls, according to final results released by the interior ministry on Sunday.<br /><br />“The results are better than we expected,” PJD leader Abdelilah Benkirane told cheering supporters at the party’s headquarters in Rabat, Morocco’s seaside capital, after the results were announced.<br /><br />Benkirane may meet with the king on Tuesday to be nominated prime minister, said PJD parliamentary bloc leader Lahcen Daoudi.<br /><br />“Abdelilah Benkirane could be received at the palace tomorrow (Tuesday) to be officially nominated,” he told AFP.<br /><br />“Benkirane will then start talks with the parties that should make up the coalition.”<br />The monarch proposed changes to the constitution as autocratic regimes were toppled in nearby Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya as part of the Arab Spring uprisings and pro-democracy protests brewed at home.<br /><br />The PJD election victory comes less than a month after a moderate Islamist party won Tunisia’s first free election and ahead of a predicted Islamist surge in Egyptian polls that got underway Monday.<br /><br />“The PJD ready to govern,” said business daily L’Economiste said on its front page on Monday. “The test of power,” said Aufait.<br /><br />An Islamist party has never been allowed in the government. Since the PJD will have to govern in a coalition with several other parties, it is not expected to make radical changes to policy.</p>