Morocco is set to have its first female prime minister after Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri was asked to form a new government.
King Mohammed VI has given the task to Ms El Mansouri, 50, after her Authenticity and Modernity Party came out on top in the country's parliamentary election last week.
She would be the second woman to hold such a position in an Arab country, after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden from 2021 to 2023.
At the election Ms El Mansouri's liberal-centrist party won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives. The National Rally of Independents, or RNI, led by the current Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, took 66 seats.
The mayor of Marrakesh since 2009, Ms El Mansouri has said her party is open to talks with all parties to form a coalition. The party vowed to offer “hope” and improve education and health care after winning the election.
Since 2024 Ms El Mansouri has been part of the Authenticity and Modernity Party's collective leadership after it failed to select a sole leader. She has also served as urban planning and housing minister under Mr Akhannouch since 2021.
The vote is not expected to lead to major changes in the political balance in Morocco, where the king retains sweeping powers over foreign policy, defence and other major policy areas.
But the incoming parliament will shape the government overseeing the last stages of a $20 billion push to get ready to co-host football's 2030 World Cup with Portugal and Spain. The incoming administration has been called the “World Cup government”.
Morocco is pouring investments into stadiums, railways and other infrastructure, and aims to double economic output per capita by 2035.
It is also expected to pursue economic policies aimed at addressing widespread youth discontent, a problem highlighted by a mass border rush on the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July and deadly Gen Z-led protests last year.
The Authenticity and Modernity Party was boosted during the campaign by the support of Fouzi Lekjaa, a budget minister and head of the football federation. He had also been tipped as a possible prime minister.
The party was created in 2008 by an adviser to the king and has since positioned itself as a counterweight to the Islamist Justice and Development Party by advocating social modernisation and secular-leaning views. The Justice and Development Party, which formed part of governments from 2011 to 2021, won 54 seats at the election.
