Morocco Has A New PM, An Ambitious Woman and Politician

Fatima Zahra El Mansouri has become Morocco’s first woman prime minister, a historic appointment that gives the Arab world its second woman to lead a government after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.

By the Editorial Team of TLF

Photo: Fatima Zahra El Mansouri (Numedya24)

A First For Morocco

King Mohammed VI appointed Fatima Zahra El Mansouri as Morocco’s head of government on September 29, following parliamentary elections won by her Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM). At 50, she becomes the first woman to hold the country’s top government post.

El Mansouri is a lawyer by training and a familiar figure in Moroccan public life. Before her appointment, she served as urban planning minister and mayor of Marrakech. She has also held senior roles within PAM, which had never before won a parliamentary election.

In Morocco, the king appoints the head of government from the party that wins the most seats in parliamentary elections. The appointment follows that constitutional process. El Mansouri must now form a government, with coalition talks ahead because PAM did not secure an outright majority.

Second In The Arab World

El Mansouri’s appointment is a first for Morocco, but not for the Arab world. Tunisia’s Najla Bouden became the region’s first woman prime minister when President Kais Saied appointed her in 2021. Bouden led Tunisia’s government until 2023.

The distinction matters because headlines can blur two separate milestones: the first woman to lead a government across the Arab world, and the first woman to do so in Morocco. Bouden was first in the region; El Mansouri is first in her country.

The Work Ahead

The appointment brings a historic change at the top of government. It also places El Mansouri before an immediate test: building a coalition and responding to everyday pressures on Moroccan households, including prices, jobs and public services.

Her government is also expected to oversee preparations for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal. Those preparations sit alongside domestic demands that have drawn public attention, including calls to address inequality and improve education and healthcare.

For Morocco, the first woman to lead its government now has to turn a landmark appointment into a governing record. That work begins with the coalition she forms and the priorities her cabinet chooses.