Fatima-Zahra Mansouri Appointed Morocco’s First Female Prime Minister
According to the Royal Cabinet, King Mohammed VI tasked 50-year-old Mansouri with forming the new government.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima-Zahra Mansouri as the country’s first female prime minister following her party’s victory in parliamentary elections, according to foreign media reports.
Mansouri’s Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) secured 97 seats in Morocco’s 395-member House of Representatives, according to the reports, finishing ahead of the second-placed party, which won 66 seats.
With no party securing an outright parliamentary majority, PAM will need to form a coalition with other political parties to establish a government.
According to the Royal Cabinet, King Mohammed VI tasked 50-year-old Mansouri with forming the new government.
Mansouri has previously served as Morocco’s housing minister and as mayor of Marrakesh. She first became mayor of the city in 2009, becoming the first woman to hold the position.
Her appointment makes her Morocco’s first female prime minister and, according to the reports, the second woman to serve as a prime minister in the Arab world.
Morocco operates under a constitutional monarchy in which the king retains significant executive and political authority. Constitutional reforms introduced in 2011 expanded the powers of parliament and the head of government, while the monarch continues to exercise extensive authority in key areas of state policy.
