Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has named Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as prime minister, making the 50-year-old the first woman to hold the role in the kingdom and the third woman to serve as prime minister in the Arab world.
The royal palace said in a statement on Tuesday that El Mansouri, an urban planning minister and the mayor of Marrakesh, was tasked with forming a new government.
El Mansouri said in a televised address her appointment was “truly historic”.
“For the first time in our country’s history, a woman is taking on the responsibility of leading the government,” she said. “This is a source of pride not only for me but for all Moroccan women.”
The appointment came four days after the results of last week’s elections were announced, with El Mansouri’s monarchy-aligned Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) winning the most votes to secure 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, Morocco’s lower house of parliament.
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