Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri (, born 3 January 1976) is a Moroccan lawyer and politician of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), and currently the mayor of Marrakesh as well as the Minister of National Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and Urban Policy.

Background Fatima Zahra Mansouri was born in 1976 into a family of dignitaries from the Rhamna. Her maternal uncle is Colonel Abdallah Mansouri, and she is the grand daughter of Ahmed Mansouri who helped Caid Ayadi, an ally of France and Pasha Thami El Glaoui against Moroccans resisting colonisation. She is also the daughter of Abderrahman Mansouri, who was pasha (deputy governor) of Marrakesh for eight years Additionally, she is a relative of the founder of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, the king's friend, Fouad Ali El Himma, being the cousin of his brother-in-law.

She was educated in French schools in Marrakesh. She studied law in France, influenced by her father from a young age, watching his arguments in court. She was elected mayor of the city under the aegis of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) on 22 June 2009, defeating her rival, Omar Jazouli, the outgoing mayor of the Constitutional Union party, by 54 votes to 35. Jazouli have also suffered a campaign of defamation in the press, which launched a number of rumours about him, such as accusing him of being a homosexual.

The next month, in July 2009, a tribunal court annulled Mansouri's election upon evidence of fraud presented by competing parties. Amidst the pressure of the Arab spring, Mansouri resigned the mayorship on 7 July 2011, but later retracted that decision. Thami Khyari of the FDF said the complaint was against the electoral process, not against Fatima Zahra Mansouri herself. Mansouri challenged the verdict. In September 2009 the Administrative Court of Appeal of Marrakesh annulled the earlier court decision and declared that the election was valid. The judge who first invalidated the election, Jaafar Hassoun, was later sacked and excluded from the judiciary.

Incumbent parties accused the authorities of actively promoting PAM in the 2009 elections, and criticized Mansouri for her lack of experience in politics. Mansouri had also threatened to leave PAM, apparently due to an internal struggle over authority within the party. Also, some of the reforms she had made to the city organization and hiring practices may have offended vested interests. The news caused a stir, but Mansouri was back at her office on the next day. It was reported that she had received guarantees of non-interference in exchange for agreeing not to resign.

In April 2012, Mansouri lashed out in an open letter against statements made by Mustapha Ramid, Minister of Justice and Liberties. He had been critical of tourism and tourists in Marrakesh. Mansouri said that given his position, his remarks had been irresponsible, had defamed the city and its inhabitants, and had violated the principle of tolerance.

Re-election Following her party's success in the general elections of September 2021, Mansouri was re-elected as the mayor of Marrakesh. She was later appointed as minister of housing in the new government of Aziz Akhannouch.

Prize

Mansouri was named by the American magazine Forbes in 2014 as one of the 20 most influential women under 45 in Africa.

Personal life Mansouri is divorced and the mother of two children.