Who Is Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, Morocco’s First Woman Prime Minister?

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri has been named the first woman Prime Minister of Morocco. Her appointment was announced on 29 September by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI. The 50-year-old Mansouri will be the third woman Prime Minister in the Arab world.

A statement released on Tuesday by the royal palace said that El Mansouri was tasked with forming the new government. Her Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won 97 seats out of the total 395 seats in the House of Representatives, Morocco’s lower house of parliament. El Mansouri will need to form a coalition, as she is well short of getting the majority of 198 seats required to form the government.

Who Is Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri?

Mansouri was born on 3 January 1986 in the city of Marrakech in western Morocco. She is the daughter of a former royal governor, Abderrahmane El Mansouri, who also served as ambassador of Morocco to the US.

Mansouri started her studies in private law at Mohammed V University located in Rabat, Morocco. She earned a degree from Pace University of New York in Anglo-American business law.

Later, she completed her postgraduate diploma at the University of Montpellier in France, specialising in business contract law. She has served as a municipal counsellor for the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM).

Political background and career

El Mansouri began her political career with the Movement of All Democrats in 2007 before joining the PAM party, which was founded in 2008. In 2009, at the age of 33, she became the first woman to serve as mayor of Marrakesh. She was first elected to parliament in 2011 and has since held several political positions.

She was appointed as Minister of Housing, Minister of National Spatial Planning, Urban Development, and Urban Policy in the government of Aziz Akhannouch, which came into power on 7 October 2021. Internationally, Mansouri has been recognised by Forbes in 2014, as she was named among Africa’s 20 most influential young women. She was also selected as a Young Global Leader in 2014.

Political System of Morocco

Morocco is a constitutional monarchy in which the prime minister heads the government, whereas the King exercises powers in matters of foreign policy, defence, and other strategic state functions. The elected government headed by the Prime Minister looks after domestic policy and administration.

The constitution gives the King the power to appoint the Prime Minister. After the 2011 reforms in the constitution, the King must choose the Prime Minister from the party that wins the most seats in elections. Before that, the King could name the prime minister without any such restriction.

Morocco has a bicameral parliament system that is responsible for passing laws and approving budgets. The lower house has 395 seats, and to form a government, any party needs 198 seats. In the recent elections, the PAM party won 97 seats. PAM was founded by Fouad Ali El Himma in 2008. The party identifies itself as liberal-centrist in ideology. It has pushed social modernisation and secular-leaning policies.

Challenges ahead

The first issue that Mansouri would want to deal with is the formation of a coalition that reaches a majority. Morocco is the co-host of the upcoming 2030 FIFA World Cup, and it would be her government that would look to the preparations for it.

Her government will also have to deal with the concerns of unemployment and living costs. This would be a major challenge for her, as her appointment is right after the Gen-Z protests of the last year, which demanded better education and healthcare.

PAM has promised an inflation rate of two percent and average annual economic growth of five percent. They have also vowed to create at least one million new jobs over their five-year term. Fulfilling these promises would also be a challenge for her government amid the global economic crisis due to the war in West Asia.

El Mansouri’s appointment as Prime Minister could be a spark in a world that is heavily dominated by men. She has a huge task ahead of her.