Date: September 29, 2026
Reporter: Emilly Jordan
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Tuesday appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as the country’s first woman prime minister, four days after her Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) emerged as the largest party in the September 23 parliamentary election.
The Royal Palace said the king had asked El Mansouri to form a new government, beginning coalition negotiations in a parliament where no single party holds an outright majority.
El Mansouri, a lawyer who served as Morocco’s housing minister in the outgoing government and as mayor of Marrakech, will now lead negotiations with other political parties before submitting a proposed cabinet to the king for approval. Her appointment makes her the second woman to serve as prime minister in the Arab world, after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.
Her PAM party won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, placing it ahead of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), which won 66 seats, and the Istiqlal Party, which secured 65. The Justice and Development Party (PJD) won 54 seats and has said it will remain in opposition.
Under Morocco’s constitution, the king appoints the head of government from the political party that wins the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives. Although Morocco is a constitutional monarchy, the king retains broad powers over foreign policy, defence and other strategic areas.
El Mansouri’s appointment comes after an election marked by relatively low voter participation. Turnout was about 38%, down from roughly 50% in the previous parliamentary election five years earlier. The decline has drawn attention because participation is closely watched as an indicator of public engagement with elected institutions.
The election followed a period of significant youth discontent over employment, wages, inflation and public services. Morocco experienced deadly youth-led protests last year, while a mass border rush toward the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July also highlighted frustrations among younger Moroccans.
El Mansouri’s government will face pressure to address those economic and social concerns while also overseeing major infrastructure and investment programmes linked to Morocco’s preparations for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which the country will co-host with Portugal and Spain. Reuters reported that the country is pursuing a roughly $20 billion investment programme connected to preparations for the tournament.
The formation of the government could require difficult coalition negotiations. PAM had previously ruled out remaining in coalition with the RNI, with the two parties having exchanged criticism over policy issues including rising food prices. Following the election, however, El Mansouri said she would have no “red lines” in the negotiations and that the parties had “turned the page.”
PAM was created in 2008 by an adviser to King Mohammed VI and has positioned itself as a liberal-centrist political force and a counterweight to the Islamist PJD. Its rise to first place in the latest election has changed the balance among the parties that are expected to participate in forming the next government.
The party’s strong result was helped by the recruitment of Fouzi Lekjaa, the president of Morocco’s football federation and a former government budget official, who joined PAM several weeks before the election. Lekjaa had also been mentioned before the appointment as a possible candidate for prime minister.
El Mansouri’s elevation also represents a significant change in Morocco’s political leadership. Women have held senior government and institutional positions in recent years, and the outgoing government included four women ministers, but no woman had previously served as head of government.
The new prime minister will now have to assemble a coalition capable of governing while responding to economic pressures and public demands for jobs and improved services. At the same time, her government will work within Morocco’s political system, where the monarchy retains substantial authority over key areas of national policy.
El Mansouri’s appointment therefore marks both a historic first for women in Moroccan government leadership and the beginning of a new phase following a closely watched parliamentary election. Her immediate task will be to build a governing coalition and present a cabinet capable of addressing the country’s economic priorities and preparing for the major international commitments ahead.