Democracy group decries graft in Morocco polls Reuters Fri 14 Sep 2007, 13:26 GMT RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's latest elections were marred by several reports of corruption, a democracy advocacy group said on Friday, only days after the polls got a tentative thumbs up from international observers. Many politicians and civil society groups complained of corrupt practices and favouritism of certain candidates by government officials, said Berlin-based Democracy Reporting International (DRI) in a preliminary report on the September 7 polls.
A conservative party from Morocco's governing coalition dashed the hopes of resurgent Islamists by becoming the biggest party in the lower house of parliament, according to final results published early this week. But more than two thirds of people registered to vote did not turn up or spoiled ballot papers, a sign of widespread disillusionment with politicians seen as out of touch or powerless in a political system dominated by a powerful executive. A small team of U.S.-based international observers, the first to monitor elections in Morocco, said at the weekend that voting was orderly, professional and marked by isolated irregularities. Several foreign governments praised the way the elections were handled. DRI said the vote was more transparent than elections five years ago but the government had not yet published a detailed vote count for each constituency. "Such detailed results would allow everyone to establish the integrity of the overall results ...," it said. The polls for the House of Representatives were the second since King Mohammed came to the throne and saw 33 parties vie with dozens of independents under a complex voting system that makes it almost impossible for one group to win a majority. "The electoral system in the end combined the negative aspects of different electoral systems without bringing their benefits," DRI said. The country's Islamist Justice and Development party accused unnamed opponents of using money to win seats, preventing it from emerging as the single largest party. The government dismissed that but said it would examine any evidence.
