Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima Zahra Mansouri as the country’s prime minister, making her the first woman to hold the position in the North African kingdom, according to the report.
Mansouri, a 50-year-old lawyer who served as urban planning minister and, until her nomination, mayor of Marrakech, was tasked with forming a new government. The royal palace announced the appointment in a statement.
The nomination came four days after the announcement of election results in which Mansouri’s centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party, known as PAM, won the most votes. The party received one million votes out of 15.8 million registered voters, marking its first electoral victory since its creation.
Mansouri is the second woman to serve as prime minister in the Arab world, after Najla Bouden in Tunisia. She is expected to build a coalition in the coming days because Morocco’s electoral system makes it difficult for a single party to secure an absolute majority.
PAM has said it is willing to work with all parties. Some groups, including the moderate Islamist Justice and Development party and the left-wing Federation of Democratic Left, have said they will remain in opposition.
The Moroccan constitution gives the king, the country’s highest authority, the power to appoint the prime minister. He must select the head of government from the party that wins the most seats in parliamentary elections, a restriction introduced after pressure from Arab Spring protesters in 2011. Before that change, the king could appoint a prime minister without the same limitation.
Mansouri’s government is expected to oversee billions of dollars in investment connected to the 2030 Fifa World Cup. It will also face promises to address inflation, increase wages and create jobs.
The election was the first since the Ceuta migration crisis last July and deadly youth-led protests last year. Following the royal nomination, attention has shifted to the coalition that will form the next government.
Mansouri joined PAM when it was created in 2008 by Fouad Ali El Himma, described in the report as a childhood friend and close adviser to the king. A law graduate of the University of Montpellier in France, she became one of the party’s leading figures in 2024.
She has twice served as mayor of Marrakech and was also a member of parliament. Her father, Abderrahmane El Mansouri, was described as the “pasha of Marrakech”, a senior local official who also served as Morocco’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. He headed Marrakech’s bar association and was a landowner.
Mansouri has faced accusations of a conflict of interest after a group of unidentified hackers alleged that she had used her position for personal gain in connection with land transactions in Marrakech. She denied the allegations, called them defamatory and took legal action. The accusations remain allegations, and the report does not establish them as fact.
The next stage of the political process will depend on whether PAM can assemble a governing coalition. While the party has expressed a willingness to work across the political spectrum, opposition declarations from some parties could complicate the formation of the new government.
