"Morocco needs all its energies to tackle its problems and face its several challenges," said Othmani.

RABAT, March 24, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Morocco's main Islamic party, Development and Justice Party (PJD) which is tipped to win the parliamentary election next year, will focus on fighting corruption and poverty, its leader said on Friday, March 24.

"Morocco needs all its energies to tackle its problems and face its several challenges ... so we have to mobilize and rally all forces and synergies and we have to avoid being sectarian," Saadeddine Othmani, who could be Morocco's first Islamist prime minister, told Reuters in an interview.

He said widespread corruption in the government's bloated bureaucracy was the main hurdle in the struggle against poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.

The government acknowledges the impact of corruption in the country and is considering setting up an agency to fight it.

More than 4 million of Morocco's 30 million people are poor, and some 12 million cannot read or write, while the jobless rate is more than 10 percent, according to official figures.

The PJD is the third-largest group in the 325-member parliament, just behind the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) which dominates a centrist coalition government with the nationalist Istiqlal party.

But, according to a poll by the US-based International Republican Institute, the PJD could overwhelm USFP and Istiqlal and win 47 percent of the vote compared to 29 percent for the two other parties together.

Othmani played down the poll and predictions of a PJD win.

"Predictions often do not coincide with facts and reality. So let's not think too far ahead and let's wait. Voter opinions can change and the polls are not for tomorrow," he said.

Othmani said his party could be compared to Christian Democrat parties in Europe.

"The PJD is a political party with Islamic references," he said.

Othmani and other party officials are expected next month to begin trips to France, the United States and other countries to drum up support for the PJD's program.

"Our duty is to reach out to the other side (the West) and listen to what they say. We must have a way with the West and use the good manner to win acceptance and respect," he said.

The US State Department has reportedly drawn up a memo calling for direct and permanent political dialogue with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which cruised to an impressive parliamentary victory last year.

If the PJD wins the 2007 election, it would be the first Islamist victory in North Africa since the Islamic Salvation Front looked set to win Algeria's parliamentary polls in 1991.

The ISF had a commanding lead after the election's first round. The Algerian military scrapped the elections before the final second round, provoking civil strife that lasted more than a decade and cost about 200,000 lives.