FACTBOX: Morocco's elections - some details

(Reuters) - Moroccans began voting on Friday in parliamentary elections. Here are some facts about the polls.

* WHO IS TAKING PART?

-- Thirty-three political parties and dozens of independent candidates are competing for seats in the 325-member lower chamber of parliament.

-- Analysts say the elections should help revitalize parts of the ruling elite body and energize the political process, though parliament has only limited powers.

THE MAIN PARTIES:

* Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP). The former bugbear of late King Hassan entered government in 1998 at the head of a seven-party coalition. It has toned down demands for a new constitution and focused on gradual social reform.

* Istiqlal (Independence Party) - Played a key role in the fight for independence but called for a less powerful monarch in the first years of self-rule. Now the USFP's main partner in government, Istiqlal has a conservative, nationalist agenda.

* Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD): Surveys suggest the party will make strong gains in the September 7 vote, drawing on a popular perception that too many government officials are corrupted by power and money.

-- Few experts are willing to bet on a PJD government as the country's complex voting system discourages outright majorities and much hangs on negotiations with royal palace officials in the days after the polls.

-- The secular elite had considered banning the moderate PJD in 2003 after suicide bombings killed 45 people in Casablanca.

-- But the PJD, tipped to lead 32 other parties in the parliamentary elections, survived that crisis, and secular and Socialist charges that Islamist ideology was "morally responsible" for violence by Islamist jihadists.

* THE LAST PARLIAMENT:

-- At the last elections in September 2002, 22 parties won seats in the 325-seat lower house. The PJD achieved a resounding success, trebling its number of seats to 42, becoming the third largest group in parliament behind the USFP and Istiqlal.

-- The fourth-largest party was the centre-right National Independent Rally (RNI) which had 41 members in the Chamber of Representatives. A further 11 parties got under 10 seats each.