( 3 minutes read)
· Finance Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane was named prime minister of Algeria, a communiqué from the presidency said. The legislative elections of the country is due earlier this month
· He is being charged with carrying on consultations with political parties and civil society to form a government as soon as possible
· Benabderrahmane, 60, replaces Abdelaziz Djerad, who had held the post since late 2019
· The latter presented his government’s resignation last week, following early parliamentary elections held on June 12
Finance Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane was named prime minister of Algeria, a communiqué from the presidency said. The legislative elections of the country is due earlier this month. He is being charged with carrying on consultations with political parties and civil society to form a government as soon as possible.
Benabderrahmane, 60, replaces Abdelaziz Djerad, who had held the post since late 2019. The latter presented his government’s resignation last week, following early parliamentary elections held on June 12. The outgoing prime minister was not able to redress the country’s economic crisis.
Algeria is Africa’s fourth-largest economy. It is heavily dependent on oil revenues, which have slumped in the face of the global economic slowdown. Unemployment is high at over 12 percent, according to the World Bank.
Algeria’s main Islamist party the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), which came third in the vote with 65 seats in the 407-seat legislature, said it would not be part of a new government. The country’s incumbent National Liberation Front (FLN) won the most seats in the June 12 vote that saw just 23 percent voter participation. The low national turnout was interpreted as a sign of Algerians’ disillusionment with and defiance of a political class deemed to have lost much of its credibility.
