Morocco appoints Fatima El Mansouri as first woman prime minister

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has appointed Marrakesh mayor Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as the country’s first woman prime minister, the royal cabinet announced on Tuesday. The appointment followed the parliamentary election victory of El Mansouri’s centre-right Authenticity and Modernity Party. The party won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, 31 more than its closest competitor.

The royal cabinet said the monarch had tasked the 50-year-old El Mansouri, who previously served as housing minister, with forming a new government. Because the party lacks an outright majority, it will need to build a coalition for the five-year term. The monarch retains broad powers over major policies.

The Authenticity and Modernity Party was founded in 2008 by Fouad Ali El Himma, a current royal adviser, as a counterweight to Morocco’s Islamist movement. El Mansouri was the first woman to become Marrakesh’s mayor, winning the office in 2009. She later lost the position before returning to it in 2021.

Her government will face issues including unemployment, living costs and persistent social disparities, particularly among young people. During the campaign, El Mansouri said young Moroccans needed concrete solutions rather than speeches. The election had the lowest turnout in two decades and followed socioeconomic frustrations among young people, including a recent movement focused on health and education.

El Mansouri’s party has pledged average annual growth of five per cent, two per cent inflation and at least one million new jobs over its term. The National Rally of Independents won 66 seats, while Istiqlal took 65. The Islamist Justice and Development Party won 54 seats.

Its leader, former prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane, called the result a victory but ruled out joining a coalition led by the winning party.