Fatima El Mansouri Named Morocco’s First Woman Prime Minister After PAM Election Win: What Happens Next
Morocco has appointed its first woman prime minister. King Mohammed VI on Tuesday named Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as head of government, less than a week after her party won the country’s parliamentary election. The palace has asked her to form a new government.
El Mansouri, 50, is a lawyer, the mayor of Marrakesh and the outgoing minister of national territorial planning, urban planning, housing and city policy. She becomes only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world, after Najla Bouden, who served as Tunisia’s prime minister from October 2021 to August 2023. In a televised address, she called her appointment truly historic and noted that a woman is leading the government for the first time in Morocco’s history.
The appointment follows the September 23 legislative elections, in which her Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives. The National Rally of Independents, led by outgoing Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, took 66 seats and lost power. Under Morocco’s constitution, the king must choose the prime minister from the party that wins the most seats. Turnout was about 38%, down from 50% in 2021 and the lowest since 2007, and PAM took just over 20% of the vote.
Because no party can easily win a majority under Morocco’s electoral system, El Mansouri must now assemble a coalition. She has said her party is open to talks with other groups. Once a coalition is agreed, she and the king will appoint the remaining members of the government.
El Mansouri was born in Marrakesh in 1976 and is the daughter of Abderrahmane El Mansouri, a senior local official known as the pasha of Marrakesh who also served as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. She studied law, earning an advanced studies diploma from the University of Montpellier in France and a diploma in Anglo-Saxon business law from New York University. She worked as a lawyer specialising in commercial and real estate transactions before turning to politics.
She joined PAM at its founding in 2008. In 2009, at 33, she was elected mayor of Marrakesh, the first woman to lead the city. She chaired the party’s National Council from 2015 to 2024 and joined Akhannouch’s government in October 2021. Since 2024, she has been part of PAM’s three-person collective leadership, alongside Youth, Culture and Communication Minister Mohammed Mehdi Bensaid and MP Fatima Saadi.
Economic pressures are expected to dominate her time in office. Morocco’s High Commission for Planning reported that unemployment among people aged 15 to 24 rose from 36.7% in 2024 to 37.2% in 2025, and frustration among young people over jobs and living conditions is growing. The new government will also take office as the country prepares to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which is driving investment in infrastructure and public services.
Her room for manoeuvre has limits. Foreign policy and defence remain largely under the monarchy, so her influence will be strongest on domestic issues such as housing, employment and public services.
Attention now turns to the coalition talks, and to who will join her cabinet.
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