Morocco Prime Minister El Mansouri Makes History

King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as Morocco's first woman prime minister, the royal palace announced on Tuesday, four days after her liberal-centrist party finished first in a parliamentary election.

The king asked El Mansouri to form a new government, according to Reuters. Morocco prime minister El Mansouri will lead the negotiations and submit a list of cabinet members for the king's approval. Her Authenticity and Modernity Party, known as PAM, won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives in the September 23 vote, the Interior Ministry's final results show.

No woman has ever led Morocco's government. According to Radio X, El Mansouri is only the second woman to hold a premiership in the Arab world, after Tunisia's Najla Bouden.

Under Morocco's 2011 constitution, the king appoints the head of government from the party that wins the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy where the king keeps sweeping powers over foreign policy, defence and other key portfolios.

El Mansouri was chosen over Fouzi Lekjaa, the country's football federation chief and a two-time government budget manager who joined PAM weeks before the vote. After accepting the appointment, she described it as "pride for all women" and called it "a message to all women in the kingdom."

From Marrakesh mayor to prime minister

El Mansouri is a 50-year-old lawyer who studied at Mohammed V University in Rabat, then continued her studies at the University of Montpellier in France and New York University in the United States.

She joined PAM after its creation in 2008. The party was founded by an adviser to the king and set itself up as a counterweight to the Islamist Justice and Development Party, pushing social modernisation and secular-leaning views, according to Reuters.

El Mansouri first entered national politics in 2009, when she became Marrakesh's first woman mayor at 33. She lost the post six years later, won it back after the 2021 elections and has served multiple terms in parliament.

In the outgoing government she was minister of national territory planning, urban planning, housing and city policy. She has served as PAM's national coordinator under its collective leadership since February 2024.

She is the daughter of Abderrahmane El Mansouri, a local official who served as Morocco's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

El Mansouri has pledged to move quickly on coalition talks with the leading parties, according to The Media Line. Reports name the National Rally of Independents and the Istiqlal Party as her most likely partners. The victory was PAM's first since the party's founding.

Coalition talks and a World Cup deadline

PAM fell short of the 198 seats needed for an outright majority, so El Mansouri will need other parties to build a governing coalition.

The National Rally of Independents, which led the outgoing government, finished second with 66 seats. Istiqlal took 65 seats, while the Islamist Justice and Development Party rebounded from its weak 2021 showing to secure 54. Turnout stood at 38.02 per cent.

During the campaign PAM ruled out staying in a coalition with the National Rally of Independents, but El Mansouri has since said there would be no "red lines" in negotiations, according to Radio X.

As Morocco prime minister, her first job is assembling a stable coalition. The incoming government will also oversee the final stretch of a twenty-billion-dollar drive to prepare for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Portugal and Spain, according to Reuters.

Beyond the World Cup, the government faces widespread youth anger over living costs. The issue came into focus during a mass border rush on the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July and deadly Gen-Z-led protests the previous year.

During the campaign El Mansouri pledged average annual economic growth of five percent, inflation of two percent and at least one million new jobs over a five-year term. She said young people "are going through a crisis" and promised to restore their hope "not only through speeches, but through concrete solutions."

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Sources: Reuters, The Media Line.