RABAT, Sept 29: An Islamist party promoting a moderate view of Islam nearly trebled its number of seats in Morocco’s parliamentary elections, provisional unofficial results showed on Sunday.

The Justice and Development Party (PJD) looked to have at least 37 seats in the 325-seat lower house, up from 14 in the outgoing Chamber of Representatives elected five years ago.

Prime Minister Abderrahmane el Youssoufi’s Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) was leading with 44 seats, ahead of the conservative Istiqlal (party) with 40, according to results of Friday’s poll based on 284 seats, the official MAP news agency said.

With its main allies in the outgoing seven-party ruling coalition faring relatively well, the USFP — which had 57 sets in 1997 — looked likely to be able to stay in power at the head of another coalition, political analysts said.

Other political parties among the record 26 contesting the polls won between 24 and one seat, MAP added.

Final official results were not expected until Sunday evening, or two days after polls closed. Interior Minister Driss Jettou scheduled a news conference at 7 p.m. (1900 GMT).

The polls were the first under the reform-minded King Mohammed, 39, who ascended the throne in 1999.

They were billed as the fairest and most transparent ones after decades of systematic vote rigging in the North African country.

Interior Ministry officials said the delay in announcing results was due to slower vote-counting because of a new complicated voting system with seats on local and national lists allocated on the basis of proportional representation.—Reuters