First female prime minister named in Morocco after winning elections

Fatima Zahra El Mansouri has been named Morocco’s first female prime minister, after her centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party (Pam) won the most seats in last week’s parliamentary elections.

Her appointment makes her only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world, after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.

She was named by King Mohammed VI, who chose her as prime minister over the country’s football chief Fouzi Lekjaa, a top politician from the same party. El Mansouri, 50, has been the mayor of Marrakesh for a number of years and also served as a minister in the previous coalition government.

Morocco is a constitutional monarchy but most power remains in the hands of the king.

At a victory press conference, prior to her announcement as prime minister, El Mansouri was asked whether the state would need to make changes to accommodate her in Muslim religious ceremonies attended by the king, including Friday and Eid prayers, where men and women pray in separate sections.

She did not directly answer the question, instead praising the king as “the biggest advocate for women” in the country.

“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.

El Mansouri is one of Morocco’s most prominent female politicians.

A lawyer by training, she studied at Mohammed V University in the capital, Rabat, before continuing her education in France and the US, specialising in business and corporate law.

She entered politics after Pam was founded in 2008 and became the first woman to serve as mayor of Marrakesh in 2009. She returned to the post after the 2021 elections.

In the past five years, she served as a minister for national territory planning, urban planning, housing and city policy under former Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch.

In February 2024, she became the co-ordinator of Pam’s leadership coalition.

El Mansouri has rejected her portrayal as an “iron woman”, telling Pam’s magazine in 2021: “I am neither a woman of steel nor iron… I am a free activist.”

During her political career, El Mansouri has rarely spoken publicly about women’s rights or gender inequality, despite ongoing debates in Morocco over issues such as whether polygamy should be banned and whether men and women should have equal inheritance rights.

Under Morocco’s constitution, the king appoints the head of government from the party that comes first in elections to the House of Representatives.

Pam has been led by a collective leadership since February 2024, rather than a single secretary general.

After the results were announced last week, El Mansouri said the decision was ultimately up to the king to choose between her and Lekjaa.

In the past, the appointment was largely a formality, as most Moroccan parties were led by a single secretary general, making it clear who would be nominated to head the government.

With 97 seats, Pam does not have a majority and will need to form a coalition to reach the 198 seats required for an absolute majority in the 395-member parliament.

It is not clear which party it will work with as it has fallen out with the National Rally of Independents (RNI), which led the outgoing government in which Pam was a junior partner.

The Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) ⁠rebounded with 54 seats, from only 13 in the previous election – buoyed by the return of party leader Abdelilah Benkirane, a former prime minister.

After the vote, Benkirane said the party would stay in opposition, refusing a partnership with Pam.