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FEZ,Morocco-When asked who will get his vote in Morocco's parliamentary elections next month, 70-year-old Mohamed Mahbou looks up from his game of cards and anger flashes in his eyes."In my life I voted many times.I no longer have confidence in any of the parties," he said.Mahbou grew up in the labyrinthine medina of Fez where he had a small business selling fritters.When buildings in his neighborhood began to crumble, the council rehoused the inhabitants in a distant suburb.He says he now earns about 3-1/2 dirhams ($0.42) per day hawking cigarettes in the neighborhood of Hay A'ttaj, where poverty and unemployment are rife and mounds of rubbish lie uncollected in open spaces.Embittered by unfulfilled promises, Mahbou has decided to vote in September 7 parliamentary elections for a party that has avoided grand promises-the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD)."At least they are frank and realistic," he says."They've made no promises but the only person who defends our cause, the miserable life we are leading, is (PJD deputy Lahcen) Daoudi."Many members of the secular-minded elite that has ruled Morocco since independence hail from Fez, but the former imperial city has seen a surge in support for the PJD in the decade since the party was formed.The PJD became the third biggest party and the main opposition in the Rabat parliament in 2002 and has built political capital by rounding on corruption and calling for more morality in public life.It has also voiced strong support for the monarchy and condemned religious extremism.
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