The King of Morocco appoints for the first time a woman head of government

BarcelonaMorocco will have a female head of government for the first time. King Mohammed VI tasked Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), this Tuesday with forming a new government in Morocco, which for the first time since independence will be led by a woman. Six days after the elections in which the PAM was the most voted party, the monarch communicated the decision to Mansouri in a meeting at the Royal Palace in Rabat.

Mansouri holds a law degree, completed her studies in France and the United States, and has a long political career. She has been the mayor of Marrakech—the first female mayor in a Moroccan city—and Minister of National Planning, Urbanism, Housing and Urban Policy of the outgoing government, chaired by the conservative tycoon Aziz Akhannouch, from whom she will now take over. Members of her party call her "the president," even before the appointment. The PAM leader has an 18-year history with the party, which was launched in 2008 and is close to the king.

Her career has also been marked by controversy, especially while she held the mayoralty of Marrakech. The most controversial was the sale in 2023 of a family plot of land near that city, when Mansouri was already combining the mayoralty with the position of Minister of Urbanism. Some media pointed to a possible conflict of interest and Mansouri responded that they were "malicious leaks."

The PAM, a liberal political formation and member of the outgoing government coalition, won the elections that were held on September 23rd. The legislative elections, however, were marked by high abstention, which rose to 61.9%, the highest in twenty years. With 97 of the 395 seats in Parliament, the PAM prevailed over its coalition partners: RNI (National Rally of Independents) and Istiqlal (nationalist).