Morocco’s first female prime minister tells MPs: “Get used to it”
A retort in Morocco’s parliament is now making headlines in the foreign press. When a lawmaker addresses her as “Mr. Head of Government,” Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri fires back. Her clash with the Islamists has made waves as far afield as Italy.
“It’s the second time you’ve called me Mr. Head of Government. I am Madam Head of Government, and you’re going to get used to it.” Standing before lawmakers, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri puts her interlocutor in his place. The scene, which took place on October 22 in the House of Representatives, is now circulating well beyond Morocco.
This Monday, October 26, the Italian outlet Open devoted an article and a video to the intervention. The previous day, the daily La Repubblica had already reported on the confrontation with lawmakers from the Justice and Development Party (PJD), now in opposition.
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The prime minister also brought up an old remark by Abdelilah Benkirane. In 2014, the former head of government compared women to chandeliers lighting up their homes. Twelve years later, the remark came back to haunt him in the Assembly.
“I am not a chandelier”
“I am not a chandelier. I am a brain, a conscience, convictions and a struggle,” El Mansouri says. She denounces the double standards of politicians who let their daughters study and work while advocating a model in which other Moroccan women should stay at home.
The head of government notably mentions widows and divorced women forced to provide for their children on their own. Applauded in the chamber, her response thus takes on a social dimension that goes beyond her clash with the PJD.
The Italian press is also interested in the career of the former lawyer. The first woman to become mayor of Marrakech in 2009, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri became, on September 29, 2026, the first woman appointed to lead the Moroccan government.
Her party, the PAM, won the parliamentary elections with 97 seats. Today, it is another first that is attracting attention abroad: a woman at the head of government reminding her opponents from the parliamentary rostrum how they must now address her.
