The king of Morocco on Tuesday named Marrakesh mayor Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri the country’s first woman prime minister, the royal cabinet announced, after her party won last week’s parliamentary elections.
Her centre-right Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) had dominated the vote, winning 97 out of 395 seats in the House of Representatives — 31 more than the next closest competitor, although the poll was marked by the lowest turnout in two decades.
The royal cabinet said King Mohammed VI has now tasked the 50-year-old, who also served as housing minister, with “forming the new government”.
Speaking shortly after, El Mansouri said in a televised address her appointment was “truly historic”.
“For the first time in our country’s history, a woman is taking on the responsibility of leading the government,” she said. “This is a source of pride not only for me but for all Moroccan women.”
Without an outright majority, the PAM will have to form a coalition with other parties, though the monarch retains broad powers over major policies.
For the new premier, “the work starts today”, she said.
“We will first initiate internal consultations within our party before holding discussions with all political groups.”
El Mansouri joined the PAM in 2008, the year it was founded by current royal adviser Fouad Ali El Himma as a counterweight to the country’s Islamist movement.
She was also the first woman to serve as mayor of Marrakesh, winning the office in 2009 before losing it six years later, then retaking it again in 2021.
