Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima Zahra Mansouri as the first woman prime minister. Mansouri, a lawyer and former mayor of Marrakech, is tasked with forming a new government.
Mansouri, a 50-year-old lawyer who also served as the mayor of Marrakech and urban planning minister, has been tasked with forming a new government, the Royal Palace said in a statement. Mansouri’s Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) emerged as the largest party in the September 23 elections, securing 97 of the 395 seats in parliament, according to Morocco’s Interior Ministry. The provision was introduced through Morocco’s 2011 constitutional reforms following protests during the Arab Spring. It secured 97 seats, followed by the National Rally of Independents (RNI) with 66 seats and the Istiqlal Party with 65 seats, according to the final results announced by Morocco’s Interior Ministry. Earlier reporting noted: Morocco gets first woman prime minister as king appoints Fatima Zahra Mansouri to top post Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Tuesday named Urban Planning Minister Fatima Zahra Mansouri as the country’s prime minister, making the 50-year-old attorney the first woman to hold the position in the Muslim kingdom.
The party will now have to negotiate with other political formations to secure a governing majority, as no single party won enough seats to govern independently. The announcement came four days after results of parliamentary elections were announced, with Mansouri’s centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party, or PAM, the highest vote-getter.
The appointment came four days after the announcement of parliamentary election results, according to the Associated Press (AP). However, the appointment does not give the party an automatic parliamentary majority, making coalition negotiations necessary, according to . She has served as a member of parliament and twice as the mayor of Marrakech, while also holding the urban planning portfolio in the outgoing government, according to AP and . Earlier reporting noted: Mansouri, who until her nomination also was the mayor of Marrakech, was tasked with forming a new government, the Royal Palace said in a statement.
Under Morocco’s electoral system, the king appoints the head of government from the political party that secures the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives. A French law graduate from the University of Montpellier, Mansouri rose through the party’s ranks and became a prominent political figure. PAM’s victory marks its first time emerging as the largest party in a parliamentary election since its establishment. Morocco’s electoral system makes it difficult for a single party to win an absolute majority.
The reforms linked the appointment of the head of government to the outcome of parliamentary elections, restricting the monarch’s earlier discretion in selecting the prime minister. Earlier reporting noted: Mansouri, the second woman to serve as prime minister in the Arab world after Najla Bouden in Tunisia, is expected to build a coalition in coming days to form a government.
Mansouri is expected to begin coalition negotiations in the coming days, with her administration facing the challenge of addressing economic concerns, including inflation, wages and employment, according to AP.