Parliamentary elections were held in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

on 7 September 2007, the second of King Mohammed VI's reign. Voter turnout was estimated to be 37%, the lowest in Moroccan political history. There were 33 different

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

and 13

independent candidates An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

competing for 325 assembly seats. An amount of $61 million was allocated by the Moroccan government to organize the 2007 elections. The number of constituencies was increased from 91 to 95 before this election.Morocco's electoral constituencies increased to 95
People's Daily, 24 August 2007 Interior minister

Chakib Benmoussa Chakib Benmoussa () (born 1958, Fez, Morocco, Fes) is a Morocco, Moroccan diplomat and politician. He previously served as the interior minister of Morocco

claimed the changes were made "in accordance with objectivity and transparency." However, BBC correspondent Richard Hamilton accused the government of

gerrymandering Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...

in order to prevent the

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

from winning. According to many analysts the complex voting system makes it almost impossible for any group to win an outright majority, although others have disagreed with this view, arguing that the electoral system is not particularly unusual and should favor large partie

Whatever the outcome, real power will remain with the king, who is executive head of state, military chief and religious leader. For the first time in the history of elections in Morocco, they are being monitored by foreign observers including the U.S.'s

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs The National Democratic Institute (NDI) is a non-profit American non-governmental organization whose stated mission is to "support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability". It is ...

and 42 others. Turnout in the election was only 37% - the lowest in the history of Moroccan national elections. The Socialist Union of People's Forces (USFP), the largest party in the outgoing government lost nearly a quarter of its seats, and was replaced as the largest party by its coalition partner, the

Istiqlal Party The Istiqlal Party (; ; ) is a political party in Morocco. It is a conservative and monarchist party and a member of the Centrist Democrat International and International Democracy Union. Istiqlal headed a coalition government under Abbas El Fa ...

. The main gainers were the pro-government liberal People's Movement and Constitutional Union parties. The opposition Islamist

had a modest increase in its tally as did the pro-government leftist

Party of Progress and Socialism The Party of Progress and Socialism (; ; , PPS) is a left-wing socialist political party in Morocco. History and profile The party was founded in 1974 by Ali Yata as the successor of Moroccan Communist Party and Party of Liberation and Socia ...

. Following the election the USFP was expected to leave the governing coalition.Moroccan elections bring victory for conservatives
''Magharebia'', 2007-09-10, accessed on 2007-09-12 Istiqlal Party leader

Abbas El Fassi Abbas El Fassi (; ; born 18 September 1940) is a Moroccan politician and businessman who served as the 14th Prime Minister of Morocco from 19 September 2007 to 29 November 2011. El Fassi, a member of the Istiqlal Party, replaced independent Dr ...

became PM on 19 September 2007.

Results

External links

Official 2007 elections website

Political leaflets from the 2007 elections

References

{{Moroccan elections

Elections in Morocco

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...