Morocco Names Fatima Zahra El Mansouri as First Female Prime Minister
King Mohammed VI picks the former Marrakesh mayor after her party topped the vote, leaving her to build a governing coalition.
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File photo: the Moroccan Parliament building in Rabat, 9 March 2019. Photo: Fernando Pascullo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Morocco's King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima Zahra El Mansouri as prime minister, making her the first woman to hold the post in the North African kingdom.
The Royal Palace said on Tuesday that El Mansouri, a 50-year-old lawyer who until her nomination was mayor of Marrakesh, had been tasked with forming a new government, the Associated Press reported. Her centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won the most seats in parliamentary elections on 23 September.
She is the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world, after Najla Bouden in Tunisia, according to the BBC and AP.
How she was chosen
Under Morocco's constitution, the king must appoint the head of government from the party that wins the most seats in the House of Representatives. That rule was introduced in 2011 after Arab Spring protests; before then, the king could name a prime minister without that restriction, AP reported.
The appointment was less of a formality than in past years. PAM has been run by a collective leadership since February 2024 rather than a single secretary general, and the king chose El Mansouri over Fouzi Lekjaa, the head of Moroccan football and another senior party figure, the BBC reported. After the results, El Mansouri had said the decision was ultimately for the king.
At a press conference before her appointment, she was asked whether changes would be needed to accommodate her at religious ceremonies attended by the king, where men and women pray in separate sections. She did not answer directly, instead describing the king as "the biggest advocate for women" in the country, according to the BBC.
"His Majesty is the holder of wisdom… If I am entrusted with the responsibility of head of government, it will be a great honour," she said.
Who is El Mansouri?
El Mansouri joined PAM when it was founded in 2008. In 2009 she became the first woman to serve as mayor of Marrakesh, and she returned to the post after the 2021 elections, the BBC reported. She also served as minister for national territory planning, urban planning, housing and city policy in the outgoing government of Aziz Akhannouch.
She studied law at Mohammed V University in Rabat before continuing her education in France and the United States, specialising in business and corporate law, according to the BBC. AP reported that she is the daughter of Abderrahmane El Mansouri, a former senior official in Marrakesh who also served as Morocco's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.
She has resisted being labelled an "iron woman". "I am neither a woman of steel nor iron... I am a free activist," she told PAM's magazine in 2021, the BBC reported. The BBC noted that she has rarely spoken publicly about women's rights or gender equality.
The coalition challenge
PAM won 97 of the 395 seats, short of the 198 needed for an absolute majority, so El Mansouri must now negotiate a coalition. The National Rally of Independents (RNI), which led the outgoing government, won 66 seats, the Istiqlal Party 65 and the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) 54, according to final results reported by Al Jazeera. Turnout was 38.08%, down from 50.86% in 2021.
The BBC said it was not clear which party PAM would work with, as it has fallen out with the RNI, its senior partner in the last government. The PJD, which rose from 13 seats in 2021 after the return of its leader, former prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane, has said it will stay in opposition, as has the left-wing Federation of Democratic Left, AP reported.
What lies ahead
The new government is expected to oversee billions of dollars in investment linked to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco is co-hosting, while trying to deliver on promises to fight inflation, raise wages and create jobs, according to AP. The election was the first since deadly youth-led protests last year and a migration crisis in Ceuta in July, AP reported.
Foreign policy will also be in focus. Morocco and Israel announced on 16 September that they would upgrade their diplomatic missions to full embassies, a move that drew protests in several Moroccan cities, Al Jazeera reported. The UN Security Council is due to consider the mandate of the UN mission in Western Sahara in October.
Although the prime minister leads the government, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy in which most power remains with the king, the BBC noted.
