Marrakech – Morocco’s Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) gave its head of government-designate, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, full authority on Saturday to negotiate the makeup of the next governing majority. The decision came behind closed doors at an extraordinary session of the party’s National Council at the Skhirat Congress Palace.
The council delegated the mandate to El Mansouri, coordinator of PAM’s collective leadership, and to a consultations commission that also includes Fouzi Lekjaa, Ahmed Akhchichine, and Abdellatif Ouahbi. The committee will continue contacts with the parties represented in parliament to define the shape of the coalition.
El Mansouri described the internal debate as far from easy. According to her account, some members called for “red lines” on any alliance with certain parties, while others defended keeping dialogue open with all political forces. She told the session the council settled the matter by voting unanimously to delegate the negotiations.
The first round of contacts is now complete, and a new round begins next week. Talks started immediately after her nomination and the meeting of the party’s political bureau. PAM, she added, opened to every party, including those that have signaled a preference for the opposition, and its exchanges with components of the left were positive.
Her stated goal is a “strong government” and a “political government” able to deliver a realistic program. She rejected what she called “clientelism in the distribution of posts,” and pointed to competence, integrity, and readiness to shoulder responsibility as the criteria for choosing ministers.
Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, a member of the political bureau, confirmed the mandate. He explained that members held different positions on the nature of the next majority and on which parties might join, but that this diversity did not block agreement on entrusting the talks to El Mansouri and the commission.
The session followed King Mohammed VI’s appointment of El Mansouri on Tuesday. The 50-year-old attorney, until then the mayor of Marrakech, became the first woman to head a Moroccan government and the second in the Arab world after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.
The move came days after PAM topped the September 23 legislative elections, drawing one million of the country’s 15.8 million registered voters.
El Mansouri called the appointment of a woman to lead the government an “exceptional historic moment,” one with particular meaning for PAM 18 years after its creation.
She relayed a message from the King, who during their audience asked her to convey his pride in Moroccan women and to salute their efforts in villages and cities. The current stage, she argued, requires moving from the symbolism of the moment to the responsibility of results.
Turnout in the elections reached 38%, which El Mansouri interpreted as meaning that parties have the responsibility to deliver on their promises and work harder to restore public trust. Former secretaries-general of the party also congratulated her in a message read before the council.
El Mansouri joined PAM at its 2008 founding by royal adviser Fouad Ali El Himma. A law graduate of Montpellier, she was elected mayor of Marrakech at 33 in 2009 and later served as housing minister under Aziz Akhannouch.
The path to a coalition remains open, as the electoral system rarely hands any party an absolute majority. The Justice and Development Party (PJD) and the Left Alliance have announced they will stay in opposition.
El Mansouri inherits pressure over unemployment, the cost of living, and youth discontent, seen last year in the GenZ 212 protests and in July’s migration crisis at the occupied enclave of Ceuta. Her government will also carry Morocco’s co-hosting of the 2030 World Cup and the Autonomy Plan for the Western Sahara.
