Morocco’s choice of its first woman Head of Government travelled fast on Tuesday, handing international newspapers and broadcasters a historic first but also a new political figure to size up as Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri sets about building a government from a divided House.
Reuters led with King Mohammed VI’s appointment of Morocco’s first woman prime minister after the Sept 23 election. Associated Press did much the same, noting that El Mansouri becomes only the second woman to head a government in the Arab world, after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.
The BBC went back to Marrakech, where El Mansouri first made her name in elected politics. She became mayor in 2009, returned to the post in 2021 and served as housing minister in the outgoing government before PAM’s election victory put her in line for the premiership.
France 24 also picked up that trajectory—from Marrakech city hall to the government helm—while retracing PAM’s victory in last week’s polls.
PAM has 97 seats in the 395-member House of Representatives, nowhere near the 198 required for an absolute majority. El Mansouri must now find the partners to bridge that gap, and the coalition hunt figured prominently in coverage by Reuters, AP and other foreign media.
She starts with several routes open but no coalition settled.
The RNI has 66 seats and Istiqlal 65, making the two partners from the outgoing majority obvious players in the talks. The PJD returned with 54 seats but has already voted to stay in opposition. El Mansouri said on Tuesday that PAM would nevertheless speak to the political parties as she begins consultations on Wednesday.
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For Bloomberg, the political sums shared space with another bill coming due.
The next government will take office as Morocco presses ahead with a large infrastructure program ahead of the 2030 World Cup, which it will co-host with Spain and Portugal. The agency also pointed to jobs, purchasing power and the expectations of young Moroccans among the pressures awaiting the new executive.
Reuters similarly put the World Cup investment drive among the files landing on El Mansouri’s desk.
Those concerns were already present in the new head of government’s own first remarks after her appointment.
El Mansouri acknowledged “great expectations” among Moroccans, particularly the young, and promised “real, realistic solutions” as she prepares a government program. Before she can get to that program, however, she has a majority to find.
Read also : Morocco names its first woman head of government
The foreign coverage repeatedly returned to the woman now charged with doing it.
A lawyer by training, El Mansouri entered politics in 2007, helped found PAM the following year and became Marrakech mayor in 2009. She served in Parliament, headed PAM’s National Council for nearly a decade and joined the government in 2021 as minister of national territorial planning, urban development, housing and city policy.
Since 2024, she has shared the leadership of PAM with Mehdi Bensaïd and Fatima Saadi. The arrangement made Tuesday’s appointment unusual even beyond the gender first. Article 47 requires the King to appoint the Head of Government from the party that finishes first in the legislative elections, but PAM went into the Sept 23 vote under a collective leadership rather than a conventional secretary-general.
Al Jazeera also put the Moroccan first at the center of its coverage, alongside the political negotiations now facing El Mansouri.
For El Mansouri, the distinction was personal but not hers alone.
“For the first time in the history of our country, a woman assumes the responsibility of Head of Government,” she said after leaving the Royal Palace on Tuesday.
“It is not only a source of pride for me, but a source of pride for all the women of the nation.”
