The president of the Council of the Nation, Abdelkader Bensalah, 77 years old, was named Tuesday acting president of Algeria for 90 days, during a meeting of the Algerian Parliament. This appointment comes one week after the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
The parliament then declared the vacancy of power. The interim will not be part of the candidates for the next presidential elections scheduled in three months. The street that calls for the departure of all “the system” has welcomed this appointment with caution. The opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary session that resulted in the appointment of the interim president. “I will work to realize the interests of the people,” said soberly the one who was still a few weeks ago a warm supporter of the fifth term of Bouteflika. Just like the resigning president, Abdelkader Bensalah is trained in the mold of the National Liberation Army (NLA), which he joins at 18. At independence, he goes to study law in Syria. When he returned to Algeria five years later, he joined a pro-government newspaper. His honorable career in the state media was crowned in 1977 by an election to the deputation he will leave only to go to occupy the prestigious Algerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the post of spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At least, Abdelkader Bensalah, often described as “Moroccan naturalized” (what he denies) by his detractors is the very embodiment of the Algerian system. President of the Council of the Nation for nearly 17 years, this faithful of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in turn deputy, ambassador, high ministerial official, senator, had the privilege of presiding over the two chambers of Parliament. Only one ministerial post was missing, which is largely offset by the presidential chair. The native of Tlemcen, on the Moroccan border, has come a long way.
