On 23 September, Morocco held legislative elections to choose the members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Moroccan Parliament, which has 395 seats representing the kingdom’s various provinces and electoral districts across its twelve regions.
Twenty-eight of the thirty officially recognised Moroccan parties took part, and voter turnout reached 38.08%. That figure remains low compared with the number of citizens registered to vote, at around 15.8 million, and with the country’s population, estimated at about 36.8 million.
The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), described as a social-liberal party and often labelled an “administrative” party, a term used in Moroccan political discourse for parties seen as close to the state apparatus, won 97 seats. The National Rally of Independents (RNI), which led the government in the previous term, came second with 66 seats, followed by the Istiqlal Party with 65. The Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (PJD) placed fourth with 54 seats, while the remaining seats were split among ten other parties.
Morocco's First Woman Head of Government
In accordance with Article 47 of the Constitution, the Moroccan monarch received Fatima Zahra el-Mansouri, the general coordinator of the PAM, and appointed her head of government, an unprecedented step in the country’s modern history.
King Mohammed VI also tasked her with forming the new government, an appointment that the head of government-designate later framed in terms of the monarchy's attention to women, saying a few days afterwards that the king had conveyed his greetings and his pride in what Moroccan women have achieved, a gesture with progressive overtones that signals royal support for women and their rights.
Under the Constitution, the power of appointment is a prerogative reserved for the king, who names the head of government from the party that comes first in the elections. However, the 2011 Constitution makes no reference to the secretary-general or the party leader, only to a figure or cadre of the party. This was the case with el-Mansouri, who was appointed head of government even though she is not the party's president but rather its general coordinator and a member of its collective leadership.
Meanwhile, the debate between progressive and conservative camps has resurfaced over whether the head of government, now a woman, could accompany the king at official occasions and pray beside him, as protocol has customarily required at Eid prayers and other religious occasions. The question remains open, pending either a ruling grounded in ijtihad, or independent religious reasoning, or some other protocol arrangement that may emerge in the future.
Elsewhere, the head of government-designate is regarded as one of the country’s prominent political figures and comes from an influential family. She joined the party in 2009, when she was first elected mayor of the Moroccan city of Marrakech. She was later elected a member of parliament for the same city, then rose through the ranks to become Minister of National Territorial Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and City Policy in the 2021 government.
News of her appointment carries considerable significance, reflecting the great trust placed in her as the first woman to reach the post of head of government in the country.
An Opposition Takes Shape Ahead of the Government
On 30 September, the head of government began consultations with the political parties represented in parliament. The PJD's secretary-general, Abdelilah Benkirane, whose party led the government from 2011 to 2021 before its heavy defeat in 2021, stated that logic dictates it should not take part in a government led by the first-placed party. For its part, the Left Alliance, which brings together the Federation of the Democratic Left and the Unified Socialist Party (PSU), announced that it could neither join nor support the government and had chosen to sit in opposition in the House of Representatives.
In response to these positions, which point to a strong opposition taking shape, el-Mansouri said her party had set no red lines in its negotiations, in keeping with the open and participatory approach she has adopted. She met with all the parties except the PJD and the Left Alliance. The PJD declined to attend at the PAM's headquarters and instead invited her to meet its secretary-general at his home in Rabat. The Left Alliance cancelled its own meeting after the two sides failed to agree on a venue independent of the political parties' headquarters.
Observers note that the composition of the Moroccan Parliament for this term looks set to be relatively compelling in terms of performance, especially after a term described as very ordinary in political performance. There is now a capable, seasoned opposition with a strong political and ideological orientation. The incoming government must take this into account and present a strong ministerial line-up, able to withstand confrontation and political testing in parliament, before it turns to citizens' heavy expectations, which in recent years fuelled Gen Z protests.
