Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri has made political history beyond Morocco’s borders after King Mohammed VI appointed her Head of Government and tasked her with forming a new cabinet, making her the first woman in the Arab world to reach the post as the leader of a political party that finished first in a national legislative election.
The appointment marks a milestone for Morocco, where no woman had previously headed the government. But it also sets El Mansouri apart in the broader Arab political landscape, while Tunisia has twice appointed women to lead its government, neither of whom came to office as the leader of a party that had prevailed at the ballot box.
El Mansouri takes the helm after the Authenticity and Modernity Party, widely known by its French acronym PAM, emerged as the largest party in Morocco’s September 23 legislative elections, securing 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives. The result fell short of an outright majority but placed PAM in the leading position in the negotiations that will shape the country’s next governing coalition.
That electoral path is what distinguishes El Mansouri’s rise from the two previous instances in which women have headed governments in the Arab world.
Tunisia broke the barrier first in 2021, when President Kais Saied appointed Najla Bouden Romdhane to lead the government. Bouden became the first woman in the Arab world to hold such a position, but her appointment came during an extraordinary period in Tunisian politics, after Saied had suspended parliament and dismissed the government.
Bouden was not a political party leader and had not campaigned at the head of a party or electoral list. An academic and senior civil servant with a background in higher education, she moved into the country’s top government post through a presidential appointment rather than through a party’s performance in legislative elections.
Tunisia produced a second female head of government in March 2025, when Saied appointed Sara Zaafarani Zenzri to replace Kamel Madouri. Zaafarani, who had served as minister of equipment and housing, likewise did not arrive at the post as the leader of an election-winning political party.
El Mansouri’s trajectory is different. Her appointment follows an election in which the party she leads came first nationwide, linking female political leadership, electoral success and the leadership of government in a way not previously seen in the Arab world.
Her ascent to the top of Morocco’s executive branch is also the culmination of a political career built over nearly two decades - one that has taken her from a legal career to Marrakech City Hall, parliament, the cabinet and ultimately the leadership of one of Morocco’s largest political parties.
Trained as a lawyer, El Mansouri became involved in politics around the creation of PAM in 2008. Her national profile rose sharply the following year when, at just 33, she was elected mayor of Marrakech. The victory made her the first woman to lead the city and one of the first women to head a major Moroccan municipality.
Her political career soon expanded beyond local government. El Mansouri served in the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2021, representing a Marrakech constituency, while steadily strengthening her position within PAM. A decade after leaving the mayor’s office, she returned to lead Marrakech following the 2021 local elections.
That same year brought another major step in her career. In October 2021, King Mohammed VI appointed El Mansouri minister of national territorial planning, urban planning, housing and city policy in the government led by Aziz Akhannouch, giving her experience at the heart of the national executive while she remained a central figure in PAM.
Her position within the party was further consolidated at PAM’s fifth national congress in February 2024. The party adopted a collective leadership model, with El Mansouri serving as national coordinator alongside Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid and Salaheddine Aboulghali. Having previously chaired PAM’s National Council, she increasingly became the party’s most recognizable national political figure.
By the time Morocco headed into the 2026 legislative elections, El Mansouri and PAM were openly pursuing first place. The September 23 vote delivered it: 97 seats and the largest parliamentary bloc, putting the party at the center of the process of forming Morocco’s next government.
King Mohammed VI’s decision to appoint El Mansouri and task her with forming that government now completes an extraordinary political climb. From lawyer to mayor, lawmaker, cabinet minister and party leader, she has reached a position no woman had previously held in Morocco.
Her appointment therefore carries significance on two levels. At home, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri becomes the first woman in Moroccan history to serve as Head of Government. Across the Arab world, she establishes a different precedent: the first woman to reach the leadership of a national government while heading a political party that came first in legislative elections.
