RABAT, September 29 — Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Tuesday appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as the North African kingdom’s first woman prime minister, a milestone that makes her only the second female head of government in the Arab world after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden, who served from 2021 to 2023.
The royal palace said El Mansouri, 50, a trained urban planner and mayor of Marrakesh, was tasked with forming a new government following last week’s legislative elections. In a televised address, she called the appointment “truly historic,” saying it was “a source of pride not only for me but for all Moroccan women.”
The appointment came four days after the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), a monarchy-aligned bloc, won the most seats in the 395-member House of Representatives with 97 seats — well short of the 198 needed for a majority. Building a coalition will be El Mansouri’s immediate priority. While PAM has signaled willingness to work across the aisle, the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party and the Federation of Democratic Left have said they will sit in opposition.
Analysts frame the transition against a wider regional backdrop: across the Middle East and North Africa, women remain sharply underrepresented in the highest executive offices, and few cabinets reach gender parity. Morocco’s new government will also steer decisions on billions of dollars in infrastructure investment tied to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which the country will co-host with Portugal and Spain — a test of both administrative capacity and international standing.
A lawyer by training, El Mansouri studied at the University of Montpellier in France and Pace University in the United States, entered local government as Marrakesh’s first female mayor in 2009, and later led national urban-planning and housing portfolios, including rehousing efforts after the 2023 Al Haouz earthquake.
The appointment underscores a gradual, palace-led recalibration of Morocco’s political class rather than a rupture — one that observers say will be measured less by symbolism than by the coalition’s ability to deliver on economic and social pledges.