The Media Line: Morocco Appoints Its First Female Prime Minister, 2nd in Arab World

By   The Media Line Staff 

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri became the first woman appointed to lead Morocco’s government on Tuesday after King Mohammed VI selected the 50-year-old lawyer and Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) politician to serve as prime minister and form a governing coalition.

El Mansouri’s PAM won 97 of 395 seats in the September 23, 2026, legislative elections, the largest share but short of a majority. Under Morocco’s constitutional monarchy, the king appoints the prime minister from the party winning the most parliamentary seats, while the monarch remains head of state and retains most power.

“This isn’t just pride for me but pride for all women,” El Mansouri said after accepting the position. “This is a message to all women in the kingdom.”

King Mohammed VI selected El Mansouri over Fouzi Lekjaa, the country’s football chief and another senior politician from PAM. She pledged to move quickly to negotiate a coalition with other leading parties.

Before her appointment, El Mansouri served as mayor of Marrakesh and as Morocco’s minister of urban planning and housing. She previously held the position of Minister of National Planning, Urban Planning, Housing, and Urban Policy.

Her appointment makes her only the second woman to serve as a prime minister in the Arab world, following Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.

El Mansouri has previously pushed back against descriptions of her as an “iron woman.” In a 2021 interview with PAM’s magazine, she said: “I am neither a woman of steel nor iron… I am a free activist.”

Despite becoming Morocco’s first female head of government, El Mansouri has seldom publicly addressed women’s rights or gender inequality during her political career. Debates in the country have included whether to prohibit polygamy and grant men and women equal inheritance rights.

Asked whether her appointment could require changes to Muslim religious ceremonies attended by the king, including Friday and Eid prayers where men and women pray separately, El Mansouri did not answer directly.

Instead, she called King Mohammed VI “the biggest advocate for women” in Morocco.

“His Majesty is the holder of wisdom… If I am entrusted with the responsibility of head of government, it will be a great honor,” she said.