Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima Zahra Mansouri as the North African nation’s first woman prime minister.
The 50-year-old lawyer and minister of urban planning was tasked to form a new government after parliamentary elections on September 23, which saw the ruling Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) led by Mansouri wins 97 out of 395 seats in the House of Representatives.
According to the Moroccan constitution, the monarch appoints the head of government from the winning party in the parliamentary elections. Mansouri, who also serves as the mayor of Marrakech, is currently the second woman to head a government in the Arab world after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.
She is now expected to start coalition-building talks as PAM does not have an absolute majority in parliament. Her government is set to steer the country through major investments linked to the 2030 FIFA World Cup tournament and navigate economic challenges, including rising inflation and a need to raise wages and create jobs.
The new PM was sworn in after reforms to the monarchy triggered by the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, which require the king to nominate the head of government from the winning party in the parliamentary elections.
Mansouri joined PAM when it was founded in 2008 and quickly climbed to the post of senior party officials. She has faced several allegations of corruption and conflict of interest in land deals in Marrakech, which she has denied and taken to court.
Coalition-building negotiations are set to continue as Morocco’s next government takes shape.
