Asmaa Rhlalou

Asmaa Rhlalou is a Moroccan journalist and politician of the National Rally of Independents (RNI). She has been a member of the Moroccan Parliament and was elected as the mayor of the Moroccan capital Rabat by the municipal council in September 2021.^[1]

Asmaa Rhlalou
Mayor of Rabat
In office 24 September 2021 – 28 February 2024
Preceded by	Mohamed Sadiki
Succeeded by	Fatiha El Moudni
Member of the Moroccan Parliament
In office 2016–2021
Personal details
Political party	National Rally of Independents
Alma mater	University of Perpignan

Asmaa Rhlalou first female Mayor of Rabat.

Early life and education

Rhlalou enrolled in the French University of Perpignan, from which she obtained a doctorate from the faculty of economics in 2006.^[2]

Journalistic career

Rhlalou has been writing for the L'Opinion since 1997,^[3] besides she was a reporter for the Arabic language MBC group for two years.^[2]

Political career

Since the age of fifteen years, Rhlalou was politically active.^[2] She was involved in the Istiqlal party for ten years^[3] and in 2015 she was invited to join the RNI^[2] for which she was elected into the Moroccan Parliament for the term 2016 to 2021.^[4] As a deputy of Morocco she represented Morocco in the Women's Political leader's summit in Reykyavik in 2017^[5] and Tokyo in 2019.^[6] Following her parties success in the General elections in September 2021, she was elected as the mayor of Rabat by the municipal council supported by a broad coalition of the RNI, Istiqlal, Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM).^[7]

In 2023, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Rhlalou to his Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments, co-chaired by Pilar Cancela Rodríguez and Fatimatou Abdel Malick.^[8]

References

1. "Maroc : Tout savoir sur Asmaa Rhlalou, première femme élue maire de Rabat". CNEWS (in French). Retrieved 2021-09-27.
2. "Qui est Asma Rhlalou, la nouvelle maire de Rabat?". SNRT (in French). Archived from the original on 2021-10-02. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
3. "Biography of Asmaa Rhlalou president of the city council of Rabat". New in 24 English. 2021-09-25. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
4. "Lourdes accusations à l'encontre de Bouanou (VIDEO)". Le Site Info (in French). 2018-05-17. Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
5. "Participation du Maroc au Forum Mondial des Femmes Leaders en politique à Rekjavick". Maroc.ma (in French). 2017-12-04. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
6. "Women Political Leaders Summit 2019" (PDF). www.womenpoliticalleaders.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-27.
7. Kasraoui, Safaa. "Asmaa Rhlalou Elected as Rabat's First Female Mayor". www.moroccoworldnews.com. Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
8. Local and Regional Engagement, Action and Multi-Level Cooperation Are Vital to Rescue SDGs and Contribute to Topics under the Summit of Future United Nations, press release of 6 October 2023.