Morocco’s First Female Prime Minister Inherits a Country Hungry for Change

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Tuesday, 29 September, 2026 named Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as prime minister, making her the first woman to hold the post in the country after her liberal-centrist party came out on top in the 23 September parliamentary election. She is also only the second woman in the Arab world to serve as prime minister, after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden. In a televised address, El Mansouri called the moment “truly historic” and said it was a source of pride for all Moroccan women.

Her  appointment follows a turbulent year in Morocco. In September 2025, public health failures in Agadir, where eight women died after Caesarean sections, sparked the Gen Z 212 protest movement. Demonstrators demanded better hospitals, schools and jobs, and the movement took its name from Morocco’s international dialling code. It was described as the largest protest since the 2011 to 2012 unrest. The prime minister at the time, Aziz Akhannouch, one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, later stepped down as leader of his party, the RNI. In July this year, a mass crossing by mainly young Moroccans into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta left dozens dead and sharpened the sense of a generation out of options.

Against that backdrop, Moroccans voted last week on the 23rd. Her Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won 97 seats, ahead of the RNI with 66 and the conservative Istiqlal with 65. The Islamist PJD took 54, and its leader, former prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane, said the party would stay in opposition. Under the constitution, the king appoints the prime minister from the party that wins the most seats. PAM fell well short of a majority in the 395-seat chamber, so she must build a coalition.

El Mansouri is 50 and a lawyer by training. Before her elevation as PM, she served as urban planning minister and as mayor of Marrakech. She joined the national government in October 2021 as minister of national spatial planning, urban development, housing and urban policy. Supporters chanted for her at PAM rallies, and crowds shouted that they wanted a woman as prime minister during the campaign. She has also cultivated wide ties, including with Marrakech’s Jewish community, whose local leader said she will follow the king’s path.

That remark points to the central feature of Moroccan politics. The country is a constitutional monarchy in which the king retains sweeping powers over foreign policy, defence and other key portfolios. The historic appointment therefore does not change the basic structure of power. The mood among voters is also sour. Turnout was 38.08 percent, a fall of almost 13 points on the last election, and many young people told reporters they had little faith that any ballot would improve their lives.

The country she inherits is economically strong but unevenly so. Morocco has a thriving economy, yet unemployment stands at around 13 percent, rising to 37.2 percent among young people. Official figures show 2.9 million Moroccans aged 15 to 29 are neither in education, employment nor training. Her government will also oversee the final stages of a 20 billion Dollar push to prepare for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Portugal and Spain. That spending is politically delicate, because last year, protesters attacked what they perceived  as lavish investment in stadiums while public services languished. The Western Sahara dispute and Morocco’s normalisation with Israel remain live issues as well, though ultimate control of them rests with the palace.

To begin her journey as Prime Minister, El Mansouri will lead coalition talks and submit a list of cabinet members for the king’s approval.

Young Moroccans who took to the streets will judge her on jobs, prices and clinics rather than on the symbolism of her being the first woman prime minister. Still, her appointment marks a genuine first in a kingdom where the outgoing government had just four women ministers. Whether it becomes a turning point, or simply a new face on an old system, will depend on what she achieves in the coming months.