Morocco's liberal National Rally of Moroccan Independents RNI party has won most seats in the country's parliamentary elections followed by another liberal party, PAM, while co-ruling moderate Justice and Development Party (PJD) suffered a crushing defeat, preliminary results showed on Thursday.
RNI, led by billionaire agriculture minister Aziz Akhannouch, took 97 of the 395-seat parliament, followed by PAM with 82 seats and the conservative Istiqlal with 78 seats.
The PJD, which had been a coalition partner in the previous two governments had only taken 12 seats after a count of 96% of all parliamentary seats. The results show a massive turnaround in fortunes as the RNI had only won 37 seats at the last election in 2016, while the PJD took 125.
RNI ministers controlled the key economic portfolios of agriculture, finance, trade and tourism in the outgoing government. Turnout in Wednesday elections improved to 50.3%, up from 43% in 2016, as Morocco held parliamentary and local elections on the same day.
Despite having been the largest party since 2011, the PJD has failed to stop laws it opposes, including one to bolster the French language in education and another to allow cannabis for medical use.
The PJD will move into the opposition if it does not win elections, Lahcen Daoudi, former PJD minister told reporters.
