Morocco poll count will gauge Islamist support

By Lamine Ghanmi

RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco began counting votes late on Friday after a record low turnout in parliamentary elections expected to show gains for Islamists pushing an anti-corruption message.

From the slums of Casablanca to the sweltering Saharan villages in the south, voters stayed away in unprecedented numbers from the contest between 33 parties and dozens of independent candidates seeking seats in the 325-member assembly.

Political analysts say the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) has a chance of winning cabinet seats if it emerges as the biggest party. PJD leaders say they aim to win up to 80 seats, a big rise from their current strength of 42.

The party emphasizes conservative family values and ethics in public life, a message popular in lower-income urban suburbs.

"Morocco, like any Muslim state, has to choose Islam," engineer Ali Sunari, 23, said as he voted in the capital Rabat. "All other parties have achieved nothing for us."

In Casablanca's Escuela shantytown, housewife Minina Bneslik said: "I voted for a candidate who helped us in the past. I hope this election will help the poor out of their misery".

Turnout was slow. Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa told reporters that at 2:00 p.m. EDT it stood at 34 percent and would probably end up at about 41 percent -- a record low and below the government's expectations, he said.

The process had been free and fair, he added.

Mohamed El Yazghi, leader of the biggest single party in the outgoing parliament, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), said he believed it had increased its representation.

"Abstention in itself is not a good sign," he added. "We are not afraid of these figures as long as we analyze them and try to work out why people boycotted the ballot box.

PJD leader Saad Eddine Othmani predicted the group would emerge as the single biggest force in parliament. As he cast his ballot in Sale town, a PJD bastion, he told reporters: "We will win. The PJD will be the first party."

A complex voting system will make it almost impossible for any group to win a majority. Final results are due on Sunday.

Some liberals fear the PJD wants Islamic rule, but the party calls al Qaeda an "enemy", and some in the establishment see the PJD's moderation as a religious bulwark against jihadists.

Morocco and neighboring Algeria have been hit by suicide bombings this year, arousing U.S. fears that Islamist groups are planning coordinated attacks throughout the Maghreb region.

Whatever the outcome, the polls will not change much in the core structure of the kingdom, which remains a conservative, deferential society. The king wields the keys of power as army commander in chief as well as commander of the faithful.