Algeria has a new government, half of the outgoing team renewed

Published on : 07/07/2021 – 21:24

Three weeks after the legislative elections, Algeria has a new government. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune unveiled, Wednesday, July 7, theThe names of the 34 members of this team, 17 of whom have been reappointed.

In Foreign Affairs, Sabri Boukadoum is replaced by ex-diplomat Ramtane Lamamra, veteran of the chanceries, already in charge of diplomatic affairs at the time of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who resigned in April 2019.

Abderrachid Tebbi, former president of the Supreme Court, becomes Keeper of the Seals in place of the unpopular Belkacem Zeghmati.

As regards the media, Ammar Belhimer retains the chair of Minister of Communication but he is no longer government spokesperson.

On June 30, Abdelmadjid Tebboune appointed Prime Minister Aïmène Benabderahmane, a 53-year-old technocrat, Minister of Finance in the previous team. He is going to keep his functions of chief treasurer.

The composition of the government does not seem to bode well for a major policy change.

Promise of change after the legislative elections

On March 1, during a minor cabinet reshuffle, President Tebboune had nevertheless affirmed that a profound change of government would take place after the legislative elections.

The June 12 poll was won by the National Liberation Front (FLN, in power), and independents rallied to the head of state and small parties close to power.

The vote was marked by a record abstention (77%), in a country plunged into a political impasse since the start, in 2019, of the popular uprising of the Hirak and against a background of generalized repression.

These elections had been rejected by part of the opposition and the Hirak who demanded a radical change in the political “system” in place since independence (1962).

The government is determined today to continue its political and institutional normalization after the Hirak earthquake, today weakened by repression and divisions, but ignoring the demands of the street: rule of law, democratic transition, popular sovereignty, independent justice.

The new national assembly is due to take office on Thursday.

AFP