Five days after the death of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the authorities announced on Wednesday the death of another cacique of the regime.
Former Algerian head of state Abdelkader Bensalah, who headed the country for an eight-month interim in 2019 after the fall of ousted ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, died on Wednesday, the presidency announced.
Bensalah, who died at the age of 79 after a long illness according to his relatives, was appointed interim head of state on April 9, 2019, under the Constitution, a few days later Bouteflika’s resignation under the pressure of a massive protest movement.
His death comes five days after that of Bouteflika, who died on Friday.
A cacique of the regime
Cacique of the regime, he chaired the upper house of Parliament from 2002 until 2019, a position which gives him the charge of the interim in the event of the death, resignation, or incapacity of the president due to a serious illness and sustainable. Bensalah left office on December 19, 2019, after the swearing-in of the new president-elect Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
The Council of the Nation, the upper chamber of the Algerian Parliament, is made up of two-thirds of elected senators (96) and one-third of senators appointed by the Head of State (48).
According to the presidency, Bensalah will be buried Thursday after the midday prayer, in the cemetery of El Alia, about ten km east of Algiers.
