By Kwanta Douglas
Algerian Finance Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane was elected Prime Minister on Wednesday, according to the presidency, following legislative elections earlier this month, and as the country struggles to overcome a serious socio-economic crisis.
“Aimene Benabderrahmane has been appointed prime minister and charged with carrying on consultations with political parties and civil society to form a government as soon as possible,” the presidency said in a statement.
Benabderrahmane, 60, succeeds Abdelaziz Djerad, who had held the position since late 2019 and resigned his government last week after the June 12 early legislative elections.
The government of Djerad has been unable to alleviate the country’s economic predicament.
The fourth-largest economy in Africa is primarily reliant on oil income, which have fallen due to the global economic crisis.
According to World Bank statistics, unemployment is around 12 percent.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who had previously expressed dissatisfaction with Djerad and his cabinet, thanked him for leading the government “during difficult conditions”, particularly the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Algeria’s major Islamist party, the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), which came in third place in the ballot with 65 seats in the 407-seat house, declared it will not participate in a new government on Wednesday.
In a vote on June 12 with only 23% voter participation, the country’s incumbent National Liberation Front (FLN) won the most seats.
The low national participation has been interpreted as a symptom of Algerians’ dissatisfaction with and defiance of a political class that has lost much of its legitimacy.
Algeria’s long-running pro-democracy “Hirak” protest movement abstained from voting.
Ahead of the official results, the MSP, a moderate Islamist party close to the Muslim Brotherhood, had said its candidates were in the lead in most regions and hinted it could be part of the government.
But following consultations with President Tebboune, the party said it decided to step back.
“What was proposed does not allow us to influence political and economic developments,” MSP chief Abderazzak Makri told a news conference in Algiers.
He said he had been asked to propose a list of 27 names from which the executive would select four or five ministers.
“It’s not up to us to choose our ministers (in the government) and that is unacceptable,” he said.
“We want to be in power and not its facade,” Makri said.
The MSP had been part of successive Algerian governments from 1996 to 2011
(With reports by AFP)