King Mohammed VI received on Tuesday at the Royal Palace in Rabat, Mrs. Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, coordinator of the collective leadership of Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), whom the Sovereign appointed as Head of government & entrusted with forming a new government following the victory of her party in the latest parliamentary elections.
PAM has won 97 seats out of 395 in the parliamentary elections held Sept.23, 2026, advancing the National Rally of Independents (66 seats) and Al Istiqlal party (65 seats).
At the age of 50, Fatima Ezzahra becomes the first woman to Head the Moroccan government. She still needs to gain the support of 198 elected MPs to form a majority cabinet, while the PJD party has already voiced its opposition to participate in the PAM-led government.
Fatima Zahra Mansouri was born in 1976 in a family of dignitaries. She is the daughter of Abderrahman Mansouri, who was pasha of Marrakesh for eight years and Morocco’s ambassador to the UAE.
She was educated in French schools in Marrakesh. She studied law in France, influenced by her father from a young age, watching his arguments in court. Mansouri started her career as a lawyer, founding a law firm that specializes in commercial and real estate transactions. She served as a municipal counselor for Authenticity and Modernity Party.
She was elected mayor of the city of Marrakech in 2009, after defeating her rival, Omar Jazouli of the Constitutional Union Party. Following her party’s victory in parliamentary elections 2021, Mansouri was re-elected as the mayor of Marrakesh. She was later appointed as minister of housing in the new government of Aziz Akhannouch.
Mansouri was named by the American magazine Forbes among the 20 most influential women under 45 in Africa.
