Mohamed Mehdi Bensaïd of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has retained his place in government, with King Mohammed VI appointing him Minister of Youth, Culture and Sports in the cabinet headed by Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri on Friday.
Bensaïd, who has held a ministerial post since 2021, takes charge of sports for the first time, while communications has been removed from his portfolio.
The 41-year-old minister is also a member of the PAM’s collective leadership, which was formed at the party’s fifth national congress in February 2024.
He entered government on October 7, 2021, when he was appointed Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication under former head of government Aziz Akhannouch, replacing Othman El Ferdaous.
Read also : Who is Madiha Khayr, the new vocational training minister?
Bensaïd’s association with the PAM dates back to its formative years. In 2008, he became president of the Circle of Young Moroccan Democrats, an organisation linked to the Movement of All Democrats, from which the party emerged.
He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2011 and went on to chair its Foreign Affairs Committee in 2014.
During his parliamentary career, he also pressed for the introduction of crowdfunding in Morocco and initiated draft legislation on collaborative financing, which was presented by the finance minister in March 2018.
Bensaïd became a member of Rabat’s Municipal Council in July 2015 and joined the PAM’s political bureau in 2017.
He subsequently joined the party’s collective leadership in February 2024 and took part in efforts to mediate internal differences.
Born in Rabat on October 26, 1984, Bensaïd moved to France with his family at the age of 10.
He studied at the Toulouse Institute of Political Studies and Sciences Po Paris, and holds qualifications in criminal law, international relations and political geography.
