Algeria has a new government, which sees half of the outgoing ministers re-elected, after legislative elections marked by record abstention and the repression of the Hirak protest movement.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune unveiled the composition of the government team, without changing the sovereign portfolios, with the exception of the Foreign Affairs and Justice portfolios, according to an official statement.
The only big surprise, in Foreign Affairs, Sabri Boukadoum is replaced by the former diplomat Ramtane Lamamra, already in charge of foreign policy under President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, ousted from power by the street in April 2019.
Mr. Lamamra, a veteran of chancelleries and multilateral diplomacy, especially in Africa, was approached in April 2020 to be the United Nations special envoy to Libya, but his name was not finally retained due to the opposition from some Arab countries.
Another minister served in a government, appointed by Mr. Bouteflika: the holder of National Education, Abdelhakim Belabed.
The first president of the Supreme Court, Abderrachid Tebbi, becomes Keeper of the Seals in place of the unpopular Belkacem Zeghmati, associated with the repression of the opposition and the fight against corruption.
As regards the media, under close surveillance, Ammar Belhimer retains the chair of Minister of Communication but he is no longer a government spokesperson.
The new team is made up of 34 members, including only four women, the same number as before.
– “Used Algeria” –
Seventeen ministers were reappointed, including that of Interior Kamel Beldjoud, Health Abderrahmane Benbouzid, in the midst of a health crisis, Commerce Kamel Rezig, and Energy Mohamed Arkab.
“Instead of a new Algeria, we have the right to an Algeria of opportunity,” responded warmly Sofiane, senior executive in a multinational, in reference to the slogan of Mr. Tebboune.
On June 30, the Head of State appointed Prime Minister Aïmène Benabderahmane, a technocrat, Minister of Finance in the previous team.
Mr. Benabderahmane will keep his functions of chief treasurer. His priority task will be to redress the socio-economic situation at a time when the country is going through a serious crisis.
The government’s list – made up largely of technocrats rather than politicians – does not seem to bode well for a major political change.
On March 1, during a minor cabinet reshuffle, President Tebboune had yet promised that a profound change of government would take place after the legislative elections.
But 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 widespread 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).
– “Suicidal” roadmap –
The authorities are now determined to continue their 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.
During a press conference on Wednesday in Algiers, representatives of political parties and civil society denounced “the worrying situation of fundamental rights and freedoms”.
They demanded “the release of the prisoners of conscience, the end of the repression and the withdrawal of the suicidal roadmap + from power”.
More than 300 people are currently in prison in connection with Hirak and/or individual freedoms, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners (CNLD), a support association.
President Tebboune on Sunday ordered the release of young prisoners held for taking part in Hirak protests.
But “only 15 of the 18 detainees who were to be released on Sunday were,” lamented the vice-president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), Saïd Salhi.
The new national assembly is due to take office on Thursday.
