RABAT, Morocco — King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as Morocco’s first woman prime minister, after her Authenticity and Modernity Party emerged as the largest party in last week’s parliamentary election.
The royal palace announced the appointment on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, and tasked El Mansouri with forming a new government following the September 23 vote.
El Mansouri, a lawyer who has served as minister of national territory planning, urbanism, housing and city policy and as mayor of Marrakech, becomes the first woman to head a Moroccan government.
She is also the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world, following Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.
PAM Won 97 Seats
The liberal-centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party, known as PAM, won 97 of the 395 seats in Morocco’s House of Representatives, according to final results released by the Interior Ministry.
The National Rally of Independents, which led the outgoing government, finished second with 66 seats.
Istiqlal won 65 seats, while the Islamist Justice and Development Party rebounded from its poor showing in 2021 to secure 54.
Turnout was 38.02 per cent.
PAM fell well short of the 198 seats required for an outright majority, leaving El Mansouri to negotiate with other parties to assemble a governing coalition.
Under Morocco’s 2011 Constitution, the king appoints the head of government from the political party that finishes first in elections to the House of Representatives.
New Government Faces Economic Pressures
El Mansouri will inherit an agenda dominated by jobs, wages, the cost of living and public services, issues that featured prominently during the election campaign.
PAM campaigned on a programme worth about $37 billion that included proposals to create one million jobs, raise wages and increase investment in health care and social protection.
The incoming government will also oversee major infrastructure spending as Morocco prepares to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal.
Preparations for the tournament are expected to involve billions of dollars in investment in stadiums, transport and other infrastructure.
El Mansouri had emerged as one of the leading contenders for prime minister after PAM’s election victory, alongside Fouzi Lekjaa, Morocco’s budget minister and president of the country’s football federation.
Her appointment marks a historic change in Morocco’s political leadership, although the country’s constitutional monarchy leaves substantial authority with King Mohammed VI, particularly in areas including foreign affairs, defence and national security.
El Mansouri must now negotiate the composition of her coalition before the new government can take office.
