Morocco appoints Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as its first woman prime minister

King Mohammed VI appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as Morocco’s prime minister on September 29, 2026, making her the first woman to hold the post and giving her responsibility for assembling a new government.

A Royal Palace statement carried by public broadcaster SNRT said the king received El Mansouri at the palace in Rabat and made the appointment under Article 47 of the constitution. The statement identified her as coordinator of the collective leadership of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, known as PAM. [SNRT’s account of the royal statement](https://snrtnews.com/fr/article/sm-le-roi-nomme-fatima-ezzahra-el-mansouri-cheffe-du-gouvernement-et-la-charge-de-former-le).

PAM won 97 of the 395 parliamentary seats in the September 23 election, according to AFP’s report carried by Sharjah24. That leaves the party needing coalition partners to form a majority. The appointment starts the government-formation process; it does not amount to the announcement of a complete cabinet. [AFP report](https://sharjah24.ae/ar/Articles/2026/09/29/KMR15).

El Mansouri, 50, is a lawyer who has served as urban planning minister and mayor of Marrakech, the Associated Press reported. Her appointment follows PAM’s first parliamentary election victory. [Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/morocco-prime-minister-mansouri-king-mohammed-8456b759e417876f008d8c49c2a729c3).

The development was also reported by [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/29/truly-historic-moroccos-king-appoints-first-woman-prime-minister), the configured source that triggered this story.