Who is Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri?
The mayor of Marrakesh appointed to lead Morocco’s next government
Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri (born 3 January 1976) is a Moroccan lawyer and politician. On 29 September 2026 King Mohammed VI appointed her Head of Government, Morocco’s prime minister, after her Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won the most seats in the 23 September election. She is the first woman to hold the office. She has twice been mayor of Marrakesh and was Minister of Housing from 2021.
Six days after Moroccans voted, King Mohammed VI received the mayor of Marrakesh at the Royal Palace and asked her to form a government. Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri is the first woman appointed to lead a Moroccan government, the latest step in a career that began with a fiercely contested city election in 2009.
- Born
- 3 January 1976, Marrakesh
- Profession
- Lawyer
- Party
- Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM)
- Office
- Head of Government (prime minister)-designate since 29 September 2026
- Previously
- Minister of Housing and Urban Policy, 2021–2026
- Mayor of Marrakesh
- 2009–2015, and since 2021
Early life and career
El Mansouri was born in Marrakesh on 3 January 1976, into a family originally from the Arab Rahamna tribe near the town of Ben Guerir. Her father, Abderrahmane El Mansouri, was pasha of Marrakesh and Morocco’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. She is also related to Fouad Ali El Himma, the founder of the PAM and a childhood friend of King Mohammed VI.
She went to French schools in Marrakesh and studied law in France, influenced from a young age by watching her father argue in court. She began her career as a lawyer and founded a law firm specialising in commercial and real-estate transactions. She was previously married to Choukri Berrada and has two children.
Mayor of Marrakesh
In Moroccan cities the mayor is chosen by and from the elected council. After winning a council seat in 2009, El Mansouri was elected mayor on 22 June 2009, defeating the outgoing mayor, Omar Jazouli, by 54 votes to 35. She was 33.
The victory was immediately challenged. In July 2009 a court annulled the election after a complaint from a rival party, finding that ballots had been issued early and voting records destroyed; in September the Administrative Court of Appeal of Marrakesh overturned that ruling and declared the election valid. Rival parties accused the authorities of promoting the PAM and criticised her lack of political experience.
Her father died on the evening of the election. Taking office, she said “I want to rule by example” and gave her salary to cover municipal officials’ expenses. A 2010 profile in Jeune Afrique described weekly meetings with residents and a pledge to bring water and electricity to 20,000 households that lacked them. After her party’s success in the September 2021 local elections she was elected mayor again.
Minister of Housing
On 7 October 2021 she joined the government of Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch as Minister of National Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and Urban Policy. The government was a coalition of Akhannouch’s National Rally of Independents (RNI), the PAM and the Istiqlal Party, which had together replaced the Justice and Development Party after a decade in power.
Relations between the coalition partners grew increasingly competitive as the 2026 election approached, particularly between the RNI and the PAM, which accused each other of poaching elected officials.
How did she become prime minister?
As coordinator of the PAM, part of a collective leadership with Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid and Fatima Saadi, El Mansouri led the party into the 2026 Moroccan general election on 23 September. The PAM won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, the most of any party; the RNI, now led by Mohamed Chaouki, came second.
Under Morocco’s 2011 constitution the king appoints the Head of Government from the party that wins the most seats. On 29 September Mohammed VI received El Mansouri at the Royal Palace and appointed her, making her the first woman to hold the office.
What happens next?
She must now form a government. The PAM’s 97 seats are well short of the 198 needed for a majority in the House of Representatives, so she will need coalition partners. She takes over in a tense political climate: youth-led protests in September and October 2025 over health, education, jobs, corruption and government spending were followed by arrests, and Reuters reported in September 2026 that many young Moroccans still distrusted political institutions and the established parties.
Timeline
- 3 Jan 1976Born in Marrakesh.
- 22 Jun 2009Elected mayor of Marrakesh.
- Sep 2009An appeal court upholds her election after it was annulled in July.
- Sep 2021Re-elected mayor of Marrakesh.
- 7 Oct 2021Becomes Minister of Housing in the Akhannouch government.
- 23 Sep 2026The PAM wins the most seats in the general election.
- 29 Sep 2026Appointed Head of Government by King Mohammed VI.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, early life, political career and appointment.
- Wikipedia: 2026 Moroccan general election, background, results and the appointment.
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