PAM: Ministers Lurking in the Wings for the Mechouar

The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has never hidden its ambition for the September legislative elections: to come out on top, for the first time in its history, and gain access to the Premiership. An ambition that is by no means incongruous, given that the Tractor Party now appears to be in a position to weigh heavily in the next governmental equation.

In addition to the latest recruit, Fouzi Lekjaa, other names are circulating in certain circles as possible future Heads of Government in the event of a victory for the party. These include Fatima-Zahra El Mansouri, Mehdi Bensaid, Younes Sekkouri and Azzedine El Midaoui.

A first observation emerges when examining these five trajectories: all of them already hold positions within the Akhannouch government. Far from being insignificant, this observation reveals a certain narrowness in the pool of personalities that PAM can put forward for the highest office of the Executive.

The party does indeed seem to be struggling to bring forward, outside its governmental wing, alternative figures capable of embodying either generational or doctrinal renewal.

This configuration raises questions about PAM’s ability to project itself beyond the mere reappointment of faces already established within the mechanisms of executive power.

It also raises the question of the nature of the future governmental team that the party could propose: will it be an assumed continuity, carried by outgoing ministers with the experience acquired since 2021, or will PAM manage to bring forward genuine figures of rupture?

Between seasoned technocrats, experienced local elected officials and assertive communicators, these five profiles outline the contours of a party seeking an equilibrium that remains uncertain between activist legitimacy, managerial competence and the ability to rally popular support, three qualities rarely found together in a single candidate.

Whatever name is ultimately chosen, these will constitute the real challenge for the next Head of Government, should he or she one day emerge from the Tractor’s cabin.

Fouzi Lekjaa: The Summer “Mercato”

On July 25, 2026, on the occasion of the National Council of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), Fatima-Zahra El Mansouri, national coordinator of the collegial leadership, officially announced Fouzi Lekjaa’s joining of the ranks of the Tractor Party.

This announcement, putting an end to several weeks of speculation, brings into the partisan arena one of the Kingdom’s most influential senior state officials, whose career has moved in a singular way between the inner workings of the Ministry of Finance and the pitches of national football. Born in 1970 in Berkane, Fouzi Lekjaa initially chose to study agronomy before completing his training at the National School of Administration.

His career began at the Ministry of Agriculture and then continued at the Ministry of Finance, where his rise is remarkable: at barely forty years of age, he became the youngest Budget Director in the institution’s history, before, a decade later, attaining the rank of Minister Delegate in charge of the Budget, a trajectory that demonstrates recognized mastery of budgetary trade-offs and solid technocratic legitimacy.

Alongside this career as a senior state official, Lekjaa pursued an equally remarkable sporting trajectory. President of the club of his childhood, Renaissance Sportive de Berkane, he was elected president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation in 2014.

He turned it into a genuine lever of the Kingdom’s sports diplomacy, eventually becoming, in 2021, the first Moroccan to sit on the FIFA Council, while also assuming responsibilities within the Confederation of African Football. This dual role — a rigorous manager of public funds and an architect of the national football revival — gives him rare popularity, often judged by public opinion according to the performances of the Atlas Lions rather than the soundness of public finances.

This is precisely where both his main strength and his main vulnerability lie: considerable name recognition, but built on a more emotional than political register, which might not be enough to establish the stature of a Head of Government. His entry into politics is nevertheless not unanimously welcomed: some criticize what they consider to be a governance style that is not very consensual, even authoritarian, while his lack of electoral experience and his absence of an independent partisan legitimacy raise questions.

Voices, including within PAM itself, are also concerned about the tight timing of this political “mercato,” coming only a few weeks before the election, questioning the solidity and sincerity of this commitment.

Fatima-Zahra El Mansouri: The Heir to Local Politics

National coordinator of the collegial leadership of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) since February 2024, Fatima-Zahra El Mansouri has established herself as one of the most firmly rooted figures in Morocco’s political landscape.

Minister and twice mayor of Marrakech, she embodies, with more than two decades of commitment within the Tractor Party, a generation of executives shaped from within by this political formation, giving her an in-depth knowledge of the party’s internal workings and a legitimacy that is rarely challenged within it.

Born in 1976 in Marrakech, daughter of Abderrahman Mansouri, former pasha of the ochre city and former ambassador, she pursued legal training jointly in Morocco and Montpellier. Having become a lawyer, she joined, from its creation in January 2008, the Movement of All Democrats, the matrix of the future PAM, established a few months later.

Her political career took a decisive turn in June 2009, when she became, in Marrakech, the first woman elected mayor of a major city in the history of the Kingdom, a symbolic feat that remains today one of the foundations of her public stature.

She held this position until September 2015, before returning to it in September 2021, a year also marked by her appointment, on October 7, as Minister of National Territorial Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and City Policy, a governmental experience which, although sector-specific, enabled her to become familiar with the exercise of executive power and interministerial trade-offs.

Following Abdellatif Ouahbi’s withdrawal from the leadership of PAM, the party’s 5th National Congress, held in February 2024, opted for an unprecedented formula on the Moroccan political chessboard: a three-headed collegial leadership, with Fatima-Zahra El Mansouri serving as national coordinator with official institutions.

She thus became de facto the most visible voice of the Tractor Party, whose National Council she had previously chaired.

A continuity that demonstrates her ability to bring people together, but which could also reinforce the image of a party apparatus figure rather than that of a candidate embodying renewal.

Her major asset lies in her local and governmental executive experience, combined with unquestionable seniority within the party.

Her main limitation, however, lies in an anchoring still perceived as more local than national, and in the absence, to date, of experience in managing the major macroeconomic or diplomatic balances required of a Head of Government.

Mehdi Bensaid: The Young Man with a Strong Appetite

With a career that began at a very early age, he now presents himself as one of the most ambitious leaders of the Tractor Party, driven by an energy and media visibility that contrast with the sometimes aging image of the Moroccan political class.

Born in 1984 in Rabat, Mehdi Bensaid obtained a degree in criminal law before furthering his education in political science and international relations at several institutions in France, a course of study that gave him a dual legal and diplomatic culture, a significant asset for anyone aspiring to lead government action.

His entry into politics dates back to 2008, when he became president of the Circle of Young Moroccan Democrats, an organization affiliated with the Movement of All Democrats. Elected to the House of Representatives as early as 2011 — at barely twenty-seven years old — he became president of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee and president of the African Union of Young Parliamentarians, two positions that demonstrate an early appetite for international issues and an ability to occupy positions of responsibility within legislative institutions.

His political rise did not prevent him from becoming involved in the entrepreneurial sphere, notably through his film production company, Entourage Production, or more recently Neo Motors, nor from establishing himself within the local sporting fabric through the Yacoub Mansour club, now promoted among the elite of national football.

This diversification of activities outlines the profile of a man with multiple roles, equally comfortable in institutional circles, the business world and culture, a versatility that may appeal to a renewal-oriented electorate, but which also raises questions about the coherence and availability required by a position as demanding as that of Head of Government.

Mehdi Bensaid today assumes the role of an assertive spokesperson for the party, repeatedly stating that PAM has a clear vision for leading the next Executive following the upcoming legislative elections, in which he himself will lead the party’s list in the Rabat-Ocean constituency.

His main asset lies in this openly assumed combative spirit, combined with parliamentary and ministerial experience consolidated over several terms, as well as rare media ease that makes him a formidable communicator. His main limitation, however, lies in a lack of experience managing major economic and social issues.

Younes Sekkouri: Activist and Technical Legitimacy

Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills since October 2021, Younes Sekkouri has established himself as one of PAM’s most distinctive figures, a party within which he has been continuously active since its founding.

An academic, strategist and former parliamentarian, he embodies a rare profile at the intersection of technocratic expertise and longstanding partisan roots, making him one of the most complete cadres within his political formation.

Born in 1981 in Tangier, he demonstrated a pronounced interest in public affairs at a very early age: at only ten years old, in 1991, he already participated in a Radio Tangier program devoted to the Gulf War, an early sign of an intellectual commitment to public affairs. A state engineer in telecommunications, he complemented his academic career with a doctorate in strategy as well as two Executive MBAs, building an expert profile rarely matched within the Moroccan political class.

At the age of just twenty-four, he took his first steps in the circles of power as an adviser to Driss Jettou, and then to Chakib Benmoussa, before contributing, between 2005 and 2007, to the work of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Employment on projects supporting youth employment and the industrial strategy, an early immersion in the mechanisms of public action that forged his technical know-how.

A founding member of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, Younes Sekkouri joined the political bureau between 2010 and 2012, before serving, from 2012 to 2014, as the party’s executive director.

Elected as a PAM member of parliament and a member of the Finance and Economic Development Committee in 2011, he simultaneously continued to strengthen his territorial roots as a PAM councillor in the commune of Temara and on the Skhirat-Temara provincial council from 2015, a network linking national commitment and local implantation that consolidated his internal legitimacy.

Alongside his political career, he pursued a recognized academic career, while also working as an expert for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. His main asset therefore lies in this singular combination of proven technical expertise, direct governmental experience on sensitive social issues, and longstanding activist loyalty to PAM.