Marrakech – King Mohammed VI has delegated to Head of Government Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri the authority to manage the National Defense Administration, under a royal decree published in the Official Gazette.
The decree, Dahir No. 1.26.92 dated October 21, appeared in Official Gazette No. 7554 of October 22. It authorizes El Mansouri to exercise the competencies tied to running the National Defense Administration, in line with the laws in force. The delegation takes effect from October 16.
The measure does not change the King’s position at the top of the military. The text states that El Mansouri acts under the monarch’s authority and in his capacity as Supreme Commander of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR). Command of the FAR therefore stays with the sovereign.
The distinction is important. The arrangement is one of delegated management. The delegation is administrative, not a transfer of command. It covers the management of the National Defense Administration, the body that handles defense affairs, while the role of supreme commander remains with the King. The armed forces are not placed under the head of government.
The decree rests on Article 53 of the Constitution and on Organic Law No. 065.13, which governs the organization of government work and the legal status of its members. It also refers to the 1972 royal decree that created the National Defense Administration. El Mansouri countersigned the text in her capacity as head of government.
The decree then sets out how the delegated powers may be carried further down the line. El Mansouri may delegate to the minister delegate for the National Defense Administration, and to the administration’s staff, the authority to sign or endorse decisions that fall within the scope of the delegation. Decrees and regulatory decisions are excluded from that arrangement.
That sub-delegation follows the conditions laid out in Article 10 of Organic Law No. 065.13 and in Decree No. 2.22.81 of March 2023 on the delegation of authority and signature. The minister delegate currently in charge of the National Defense Administration is Abdeltif Loudyi.
The delegation did not appear in isolation. The same issue of the Official Gazette carried two other royal decrees tied to the new government.
The first, Dahir No. 1.26.91, named the members of the government led by El Mansouri, with effect from October 16. She had been appointed head of government on October 1 under a separate decree.
The lineup includes Loudyi as minister delegate to the head of government for the National Defense Administration, Nasser Bourita at Foreign Affairs, Abdelouafi Laftit at Interior, and Fouzi Lekjaa at Economy and Finance.
The second decree, Dahir No. 1.26.93, removed Madiha Khayr from her post as minister delegate for vocational training. Her dismissal took effect on October 18, two days after the new government took office and the same date range in which the other measures were recorded.
The three decrees are dated October 21 and were published together the following day. Read as a set, they formalize the composition of El Mansouri’s government and fix the line of responsibility for the National Defense Administration.
For defense, the delegation comes as Morocco expands its military outlays. The draft 2027 Finance Bill, presented to Parliament last week by Lekjaa, raises the ceiling for procurement, maintenance, and defense industry development to MAD 190.5 billion ($19.05 billion), an increase of about 21.2% over the previous year.
The arrangement also follows the King’s decision in May, when he named Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan coordinator of the offices and services of the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces, the post the monarch himself had held from 1985 as crown prince.
