Fatima El Mansouri has been elected as Morocco’s first female prime minister after her party won the most seats in the parliamentary elections held in the North African country.
King Mohammed VI named El Mansouri as the country’s prime minister on Tuesday and tasked her with forming a new government, the Royal Palace said in a statement.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy, but the king retains significant powers. Under the constitution, the king appoints the head of government from the political party that wins the most seats in the house of representatives.
The 50-year-old attorney was previously the mayor of Marrakech before her appointment as prime minister. She is the second woman to serve as prime minister in the Arab world, after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.
Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and a key figure in the king’s aligned Authenticity and Modernity Party (AMP), was El Mansouri’s strongest contender.
El Mansouri’s government will oversee the final stages of a $20-billion push to prepare Morocco for the 2030 World Cup, which the country will co-host with Portugal and Spain.
She will also be tasked with implementing economic policies aimed at addressing widespread youth discontent, an issue highlighted by a mass border rush on the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July and deadly Gen-Z-led protests last year.
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