Relatively young leader to head Algeria’s ruling party amid protests
algiers — Algeria’s ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) party has elected businessman Mohamed Djemai as its new leader, state television said on Tuesday, a month after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika quit in the face of mass protests.
Bouteflika’s exit has not quieted protesters, who are now demanding the dismantling of an entire ruling elite entrenched for decades, a shift towards more democracy and a crackdown on systemic corruption and cronyism.
The 50-year-old Djemai, whose business interests have included smartphones, is a relatively youthful figure atop the FLN, most of whose senior officials are in their 70s and have dominated Algeria since independence from France in 1962.
Djemai replaces Moad Bouchareb.
The FLN, which has ruled since independence in 1962, will lead Algeria to a position of security, Djemai was cited as saying by the private Ennahar TV. Until presidential elections on July 4, Algeria — a major oil and gas producer — will be run by Abdelkader Bensalah, head of the upper house of parliament, as caretaker president,
although he has also faced demands to resign.
Many Algerians hardly took notice of the FLN leadership change as they pressed for bigger changes.
The army remains the most powerful institution in Algeria, having swayed politics from the shadows for decades. It has so far patiently monitored the mostly peaceful protests that at times have swelled to hundreds of thousands of people.
Earlier on Tuesday, the army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah — who helped push out Bouteflika after having him declared unfit for office — said several big corruption cases would come to light in a crackdown on graft, Ennahar TV reported.
A number of figures from the ruling elite including the finance minister, former prime minister and several oligarchs have come under investigation in recent weeks.
“The judiciary has been freed from all pressures,” Salah said in a speech at a base in the eastern city of Constantine. “The country will be cleansed of corruption and corrupt people.”