Morocco Appoints First Female Prime Minister

King Mohammed VI on Tuesday appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as Morocco’s first female prime minister, tasking the 50-year-old lawyer and longtime mayor of Marrakesh with forming a new government after her party’s victory in last week’s parliamentary elections.

The historic selection, announced by the royal palace and carried by the official Maghreb Arab Presse news agency, marks the first time a woman has been named head of government in the North African kingdom. El Mansouri becomes only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world, following Tunisia’s Najla Bouden, who served from 2021 to 2023.

“This isn’t just pride for me but pride for all women,” El Mansouri told reporters after the appointment. “For the first time in our country’s history, a woman is taking on the responsibility of leading the government.”

The move follows the September 23 legislative elections, in which El Mansouri’s centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) secured the largest share of seats — 97 of the 395 in the House of Representatives. That placed it ahead of the National Rally of Independents (RNI) with 66 seats and the Istiqlal Party with 65. Voter turnout was low, at roughly 38 percent, the weakest level since 2007.

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Under Morocco’s constitution, the king appoints the prime minister from the party that wins the most seats. PAM fell well short of the 198 seats needed for an absolute majority, so El Mansouri must now negotiate a coalition. She has pledged to begin consultations promptly and said there would be “no red lines” in talks with other parties. Some groups, including the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party, have already indicated they prefer to remain in opposition.

El Mansouri, born January 3, 1976, in Marrakesh into a prominent legal family, studied private law at Mohammed V University in Rabat before pursuing further education in France at the University of Montpellier and in the United States, specializing in business and corporate law. She practiced real estate law in Marrakesh and entered politics after PAM was founded in 2008 by a close adviser to the king. In 2009, at age 33, she became the first woman elected mayor of Marrakesh; she returned to the post after the 2021 elections. She also served in parliament and, since 2021, as minister of national territorial planning, urban planning, housing and city policy in the outgoing government of Aziz Akhannouch. In 2024 she became a coordinator of PAM’s collective leadership.

The king chose her over another prominent PAM figure, football federation chief Fouzi Lekjaa, who had joined the party shortly before the vote. Morocco remains a constitutional monarchy in which the king retains substantial powers, particularly over strategic portfolios, while the government handles day-to-day administration.

The incoming cabinet will face pressing challenges, including managing the final stages of a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure drive ahead of the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Portugal and Spain. It must also address youth discontent, highlighted by a mass attempt to cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July and earlier Gen-Z-led protests.

Analysts note the symbolic weight of the appointment in a region where female leadership at the highest levels remains rare. “From the perspective of the regime, having a woman prime minister is hugely consequential,” said Intissar Fakir of the Middle East Institute. El Mansouri now begins the delicate work of assembling a coalition capable of governing for the next five years.