Electoral campaign begins in Morocco

Some 15 million voters head to the polls Sept. 7 for the North African kingdom's parliamentary elections, in which 325 seats in the lower house are up for grabs. More than 30 parties are expected to take part in the elections, but the opposition Justice and Development Party, or PJD, appeared to have an early lead. Formed in 1998 from several Islamist strands, the PJD rose to prominence in the last parliamentary elections in 2002, winning 42 seats in the outgoing lower house.
A recent survey by the CSA and LMS polling agencies suggests Justice and Development would take 19 percent of the vote, compared to 15 percent for the establishment Istiqlal, or Independence party, and 14 percent for the center-left Socialist Union of Popular Forces, or USFP, which together dominate the current governing coalition. The poll of 1,200 people, which appeared Friday in Almassae newspaper, had a margin of error between 1.7-2.8 percent.

According to the same poll, 69 percent of those surveyed said they planned to vote. In the 2002 race, 52 percent of registered voters cast their ballots. A dozen observers from the Washington D.C.-based National Democratic Institute will be on hand for the upcoming vote.

Morocco's secularist King Mohamed VI, who names the government and still wields ultimate power in the kingdom, has spoken out on the need for electoral transparency and to fight against vote-buying — which overshadowed the 2002 race and has flared up before September's vote.