Morocco's king names Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri head of government, a first for the country

Pinned summary · as of 15:38

King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri to lead Morocco's government and asked her to assemble a cabinet. She received the appointment at the Royal Palace in Rabat on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, and says no woman has held the post in the country before. Her party finished first in last week's legislative elections but without enough seats to govern alone.

What we know

• King Mohammed VI appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as Morocco's Head of Government on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, and gave her the job of forming a new government.
• The king received her at the Royal Palace in Rabat, the royal household's protocol office said in its announcement. It described her as the person coordinating the shared leadership of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM).
• Ms El Mansouri said no woman had previously been named to head a government in Morocco, and reports on her appointment describe her as the first woman prime minister.
• Ms El Mansouri said she would start consultations inside her party and with the other parties to put a government together, and that the government would draw up a programme of realistic and concrete solutions.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  OmanGhana reported that PAM won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives in the 23 September elections, short of the 198 needed for a majority, with the National Rally of Independents (RNI) on 66 and Istiqlal on 65. The 97-seat figure also appears in other reports, but the full tally has not been confirmed by an official announcement in the material available.
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  OmanGhana reported that Morocco's constitution requires the king to pick the head of government from the party with the most seats, and that Ms El Mansouri said she would consider a broad range of coalition partners. Her remark on partners has been carried only by that publication.
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  MyJoyOnline and Citi Newsroom reported that the king chose Ms El Mansouri over football chief Fouzi Lekjaa, another senior PAM figure, and that PAM has fallen out with the RNI, which led the outgoing government. Neither point has been confirmed by an independent report.
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  MyJoyOnline, Citi Newsroom and Adom Online reported that the Justice and Development Party (PJD) won 54 seats, up from 13, and that its leader Abdelilah Benkirane said it would stay in opposition and refuse any partnership with PAM. This account is not independently confirmed.
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  Reports on her background say she is a lawyer, was Marrakesh's mayor and served as housing and urban planning minister in the outgoing government. Some describe her as 50 and as only the second woman heading a government in the Arab world, following Tunisia's Najla Bouden. These details have not been independently confirmed.
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  Citi Newsroom reported that when asked at a press conference about religious ceremonies the king attends, she did not answer directly and praised the king as a champion of women. The account comes from one report.

Why it matters for Ghana

Morocco is one of Africa's larger economies and a co-host of the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal, so its choice of government matters to Ghanaian traders, students and football fans with ties to the country. The coalition talks will decide how quickly a cabinet takes shape and what its programme looks like. Ghanaians following African politics will also note the appointment of the first woman to lead a government in Morocco.