Morocco's conservative Istiqlal (Independence) party, a member of the ruling coalition, appears to have won the most seats in parliamentary elections, initial results indicate.

Istiqlal had 52 seats, ahead of Islamic Justice and Development Party (PJD) with 47 seats and the People's Party with 43, Al Jazeera's correspondents said on Saturday.

In fourth place was the National Rally of Independents (RNI) with 38 seats, followed by the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) with 36. The two dominate the outgoing coalition government.

The Constitutional Union party occupied the sixth position with 25 seats.

Average voter turnout had been estimated to be 37 per cent.

The parties from the ruling coalition have together won 102 seats, amounting to more than 70 per cent of parliament.

A total of 34 women have been elected to the new parliament.

The PJD had expected to fare much better, and on Saturday its leaders accused unnamed opponents of buying votes to skew the results of a poll marked by a record-low turnout.

The other seats were divided between many smaller parties and dozens of independents including Fouad Ali el Himma, former deputy interior minister, who stepped down from his job last month to run for parliament.

Partners needed

Hashem Ahelbarra, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Rabat, the kingdom's capital city, said Istiqlal - the election's big winner - was traditionally strong in rural areas but never very popular in the cities.

However, if it were invited to form the next coalition government, Istiqlal would need partners from among the very parties at whose expense it has made gains.

The PJD had been widely touted to perform well and aimed to become the biggest party in parliament, but scaled back its ambitions after polling closed on Friday.

"Dirty money has been flowing into the voting system. We have the proof and we will challenge this," Lahcen Daoudi, PJD deputy leader, told supporters in Rabat early on Saturday.

"It is not only sad for us, it is sad for Moroccan democracy."

The parliamentary polls were the second of King Mohammed's nine-year reign and saw 33 parties vie with dozens of independents for seats in the 325-member lower house.

A complex voting system makes it almost impossible for any group to win a majority, and whatever the outcome, real power will remain with the king, who is executive head of state, military chief and religious leader..

PHOTO CAPTION

PJD leader Saadeddine Othmani campaigning in Casablanca