The Moroccan King, Mohammed VI, appointed the National Coordinator of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, Fatima Zahraa Al-Mansouri, to form the new government, after her party topped the legislative elections, becoming the first woman to assume this task in the history of Morocco.
The appointment came on September 29, after the Authenticity and Modernity Party topped the results of the elections held on September 23, winning 97 seats out of 395 in the House of Representatives, without achieving a majority that would allow it to rule alone.
Al-Mansouri’s assignment to form the government represents a precedent in Morocco, and gives women’s participation in Moroccan political life a new dimension, after women held ministerial positions and led elected councils, without previously reaching this position.
The assignment comes within the existing constitutional framework, which obliges the king to appoint the prime minister from the leading party in the House of Representatives elections.
The assignment gives the Authenticity and Modernity Party the opportunity to lead the government, but it places Al-Mansouri responsible for delivering results that go beyond the symbolism of the first woman’s arrival to office, in light of pressing social and economic demands.
Who is Fatima Zahraa Al Mansouri?
Al-Mansouri is a lawyer, born in Marrakesh in 1976, and her political career was linked to the Authenticity and Modernity Party, which was founded in 2008. She assumed the presidency of the Marrakesh City Council between 2009 and 2015, before returning to the position in 2021.
Al-Mansouri was also elected as a representative in the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2016, and then was re-elected for the period between 2016 and 2021. She won a seat again in the 2026 elections.
Al-Mansouri held the portfolio of national territory preparation, reconstruction, housing, and city policy in the previous Moroccan government, and in 2024 she became coordinator of the collective leadership of the Authenticity and Modernity Party.
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This political experience gives Mrs. Fatima Al-Zahraa Al-Mansouri knowledge of managing local affairs, ministerial work, and party balances. However, the government's leadership places it with a broader responsibility, which is to maintain the cohesion of the majority and transform a joint program into tangible results in important files, such as unemployment, education, health, and purchasing power.
The first challenge facing Al-Mansouri: forming a coalition government
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Al-Mansouri's mission begins with building a coalition that has an absolute majority in the House of Representatives, meaning at least 198 seats.
The National Rally of Liberals came second in the elections with 66 seats, then the Istiqlal Party came third with 65 seats, and the Justice and Development Party came in fourth place with 54 seats.
The Justice and Development Party announced its intention not to participate in the next government, preferring to align itself with the opposition.
If the Justice and Development Party insists on its position, one of Mansouri’s options would be to ally with its two partners in the previous government, the National Rally of Independents and Al-Istiqlal, which would make the alliance with them, if achieved, mathematically sufficient to secure a majority of 228 seats.
Or diversify its alliances and invite other parties that obtained a smaller number of seats, such as the Popular Movement (29 seats), the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (26 seats), the Progress and Socialism (19 seats), and the Constitutional Union (17 seats).
Al-Mansouri expressed her readiness to negotiate with all Moroccan parties, saying that there would be no “red lines” on any party that could ally with which to form the government.
Al-Mansouri will have to convince her potential partners of the program of her next government, and decide how to distribute ministerial portfolios. Then, after the King approves the formation of its government, the government program must obtain an absolute majority of members of the House of Representatives, in accordance with Article 88 of the Constitution.
Education, health, unemployment files, and the legacy of the “Generation Z212” protests
The files of education, health, and unemployment represent one of the most sensitive files for any future government, after the youth protests that Morocco witnessed in September and October 2025, and were known in the media as the “Generation Z 212” protests.
The protesters, the majority of whom were young, demanded reform of the education system and the health sector, and criticized the directing of resources to sports facilities and preparations for international events, in exchange for what they considered a decline in basic services.
Unemployment, especially among young people, is among the most prominent challenges facing the next government. According to the High Commission for Planning, a Moroccan government institution responsible for producing official statistics, the unemployment rate among Moroccan youth between the ages of 15 and 24 years reached 27.2 percent during the second quarter of 2026, compared to 9.5 percent at the national level.
Providing suitable job opportunities is one of the most important challenges facing any future Moroccan government.
These demands put the next government to the test of providing real job opportunities and improving the quality and accessibility of basic services, not just announcing increased spending.
The Authenticity and Modernity Party pledged during the election campaign to provide job opportunities and improve the living conditions of Moroccans. Al-Mansouri will have to form a government that can fulfill these pledges.
If Al-Mansouri is able to form the government and obtain parliamentary approval, Al-Mansouri will be the third Arab woman to hold this position, after the Tunisians Najla Boudin Ramadan, who led the Tunisian government from October 2021 to August 2023, and Sarah Al-Zaafarani Al-Zanzri, who assumed the position in March 2025.
In your opinion,
What are the implications of assigning Al-Mansouri to form the next government?
To what extent can the arrival of a woman to head the government be reflected in women’s participation in decision-making?
Will Al-Mansouri succeed in overcoming the differences in the election campaign and forming a stable coalition government?
What are the most prominent challenges that Al-Mansouri will face if she is able to form the government?
What do Moroccans expect from the next government?
We will discuss these and other topics with you in the episode of Monday, October 2.
