PAM collegial leadership: two women and one man at the helm

Since February 2024, the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has no longer been run by a single secretary-general but by a collegial leadership. Created by the party’s 5th national congress, it has brought together two women and one man since 19 October 2024. It led the party to first place in the legislative elections of 23 September 2026 with 97 seats, a first since the party was founded in 2008.

From secretary-general to collegial leadership

On 9 and 10 February 2024, the 5th national congress, held in Bouznika, replaced the single secretary-general with a collegial leadership. From 2008 to 2024 the party had been run by six successive secretaries-general: Hassan Benaddi, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, Mustapha Bakkoury, Ilyas El Omari, Hakim Benchamach and Abdellatif Ouahbi. The new way of deciding rests on seeking consensus, which the coordinator defended in these words:

“A decision taken by consensus is just as democratic as a vote.”

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, coordinator, on the collegial leadership, Médias24, February 2024 (translated from French)

On 13 February 2024, His Majesty King Mohammed VI sent her a message of congratulations, in which the Sovereign praising “your human qualities, … your proven competence and experience, and … your unwavering attachment to the constants of the Nation” (translated from French).

Three leaders

• Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, coordinator since February 2024: a founding member of the party in 2008, she was President of its National Council from 2016 to 2024 (her career).
• Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, member since February 2024: Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication since October 2021, in the outgoing government.
• Fatima Saâdi, member since October 2024: elected by the National Council on 19 October 2024, from Al Hoceima, she has chaired the city’s communal council and was the party’s deputy secretary-general from 2020 to 2024.

All three are presented on the page on The PAM.

Ethics, training and youth

Since 2024 the PAM has adopted an ethics charter, set up an arbitration and ethics commission and created a political academy to train its cadres. The party has also stepped up its meetings with young people:

• Summer university: the first edition took place from 19 to 21 September 2024 in Bouznika, on water scarcity, identity, jobs and youth engagement, digital technology and artificial intelligence.
• Jeel 2030 / Generation 2030: this national platform for dialogue with young people was launched on 4 March 2025 at the Mohammed V Theatre in Rabat, before around 500 young people. Our article Youth and Jeel 2030 covers it in detail.

“Politics rests on work and on ethics.”

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, 2 September 2026, as reported by the PAM (translated from Arabic)

From candidacies to results

Preparation for the 2026 elections took time: the party’s electoral committee spent 15 months assessing candidacies in every constituency, and 38 candidates were standing for the PAM for the first time. From 22 to 28 June 2026, every woman activist could apply online for the regional women’s lists (see Women in Moroccan politics). On 1 September the party presented its 2027-2031 programme, “To change course. One word!”.

On 23 September 2026 the PAM came first with 97 seats, against 87 in 2021, and 1,065,371 votes on the regional lists, the only party to pass one million (see the results). On 29 September, six days after the vote, His Majesty King Mohammed VI appointed the party’s coordinator Head of Government: for the first time, the PAM is called on to lead a government. The consultations that followed are covered in our tracker on forming the government.

Discover the PAM, its history and its programme