His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, yesterday sent a cable of congratulations to Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri on the occasion of her appointment as head of government of Morocco by King Mohammed VI.
The Morocccan King appointed El Mansouri as the country’s first woman prime minister after her liberal-centrist party came out on top in a September 23 parliamentary election, the royal palace said in Rabat.
El Mansouri’s Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) 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 (PJD) by advocating social modernisation and secular-leaning views.
Under Morocco’s constitution, the king appoints the head of government from the political party that wins the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives.
PAM, which was the second-largest member in the outgoing coalition, moved up to the top spot, bolstered by the recruitment of Fouzi Lekjaa, Morocco’s football federation chief and two-time government budget manager, who joined weeks before the vote.
El Mansouri, a lawyer who was housing minister in the outgoing government and Marrakech mayor, will lead talks to form a coalition government and submit a list of cabinet members for the king’s approval.
The incoming government will oversee the last stages of a $20-billion push to get ready for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Portugal and Spain.
PAM won 97 seats, followed by its partners in the outgoing government, the liberal-centrist National Rally of Independents (RNI) with 66 seats, and the conservative nationalist Istiqlal with 65.
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