El Mansouri, 50, is a senior leader of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), which secured the largest number of seats in Morocco’s recent parliamentary elections. The party won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, but fell short of an outright majority and will therefore need to form a coalition with other parties.
The new prime minister previously served as Morocco’s urban planning and housing minister and has also served as mayor of Marrakesh. She was the first woman to hold the mayoral position in the city when she was elected in 2009.
Her appointment makes El Mansouri only the second woman to serve as prime minister in the Arab world, following Tunisia’s Najla Bouden, who held the position from 2021 to 2023.
Under Morocco’s constitutional system, the king appoints the head of government from the party that wins the largest number of seats in parliamentary elections. The monarch also retains significant powers in key areas of governance, despite constitutional reforms that expanded the role of parliament.
El Mansouri’s new government will face the task of forming a governing coalition and addressing economic and social issues, including employment and wages. It will also oversee preparations and major investments linked to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal.