Arabic version: المغرب يعيّن المنصوري أول رئيسة وزراء في تاريخه

According to France 24, King Mohammed VI has appointed Marrakesh mayor Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as Morocco’s first woman prime minister after her centre-right Authenticity and Modernity Party won the September 23 parliamentary election. The royal cabinet said the 50-year-old, who previously served as housing minister, was tasked with forming a new government.

The Authenticity and Modernity Party, known as PAM, won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, 31 more than its nearest competitor. The election recorded the lowest turnout in two decades. As PAM lacks an outright majority, El Mansouri will need to form a coalition with other parties for the five-year term, while the monarch retains broad powers over major policies.

El Mansouri first became Marrakesh’s mayor in 2009, becoming the first woman to hold that office. She lost the post six years later and won it again in 2021. PAM was founded in 2008 by Fouad Ali El Himma, now a royal adviser, as a counterweight to Morocco’s Islamist movement.

Her government is expected to confront unemployment, living costs and persistent social disparities affecting young people. During the campaign, El Mansouri said young people were in crisis and needed concrete solutions. PAM has pledged average annual economic growth of five percent, inflation of two percent and at least one million new jobs during its five-year term. The government will also be expected to make billions of dollars in investments tied to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will jointly organise with Spain and Portugal.

The National Rally of Independents, which leads the outgoing coalition, won 66 seats, followed by the right-wing Istiqlal party with 65. The Islamist opposition Justice and Development Party secured 54 seats, up from 13 in 2021. Its leader, former prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane, ruled out joining a PAM-led coalition and alleged fraud without providing details.