New President Tebboune sworn in, Algeria takes office

New Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune officially took office on Thursday taking an oath at an official ceremony in Algiers, AFP journalists found.

Elected in the first round on December 12, Mr. Tebboune succeeds Abdelaziz Bouteflika, of whom he was Prime Minister and who was forced to resign in April by an unprecedented popular movement (“Hirak”) challenging the regime which agitates the Algeria for ten months.

Right hand on the Koran, Mr. Tebboune pronounced the long formula provided for by the Constitution, swearing in particular to “respect and glorify the Islamic religion, to defend the Constitution, to ensure the continuity of the State”, but also “ to act with a view to consolidating the democratic process, to respect the free choice of the People ”.

The aspirations expressed by the population peacefully will receive the full attention of the president-elect

Previously the President of the Constitutional Council, Kamel Fenniche read the proclamation of the final results consecrating the election of Mr. Tebboune with 58.13% of the vote, before an audience of dignitaries, including a large square of high ranking officers, whose General Ahmed Gaïd Salah.

Representative of the “system”

The Chief of the Defense Staff has been the face of the military high command since April, who has openly assumed the reality of power since the resignation of Bouteflika.

The four unfortunate opponents of Mr. Tebboune – Abdelkader Bengrina, Ali Benflis, Azzedine Mihoubi, Abdelaziz Belaïd – were also present.

These “elections which took place in a calm and serene climate” will “lead to a new Algeria as demanded by the people”, said, before Mr. Tebboune was sworn in, Abdelkader Bensalah who was acting in the interim head of state since the departure of Mr. Bouteflika, well beyond the deadline of three months maximum provided for by the Constitution.

« The aspirations expressed by the population peacefully will find the full attention of the president-elect, » said Mr. Bensalah, referring to the « Hirak » who had called for a boycott of the presidential elections, denouncing a poll intended only to allow the regime to regenerate itself, and which already denies all “legitimacy” to Mr. Tebboune.

74-year-old senior civil servant, long-serving minister and then short-lived Prime Minister of Mr. Bouteflika, Mr. Tebboune is considered by the protest as a representative of the “system” in power since independence in 1962, whose “Hirak” requests the dismantling.