Abdelkader Bensalah

Abdelkader Bensalah (Arabic: عبد القـادر بن صالح‎, born 24 November 1941) is an Algerian politician.

Abdelkader Bensalah
عبد القـادر بن صالح
Abdelkader Bensalah in 2019
Head of State of Algeria Acting
In office 9 April 2019 – 19 December 2019
Prime Minister	Noureddine Bedoui
Preceded by	Abdelaziz Bouteflika (President)
Succeeded by	Abdelmadjid Tebboune (President)
President of the Council of the Nation
In office 2 July 2002 – 9 April 2019
Preceded by	Bachir Boumaza
Succeeded by	Salah Goudjil (Acting)
President of the People's National Assembly
In office 14 June 1997 – 10 June 2002
Preceded by	Himself (President of the National Transitional Council)
Succeeded by	Karim Younes
Personal details
Born	(1941-11-24) 24 November 1941 Fellaoucene, Algeria
Nationality	Algerian
Political party	Democratic National Rally (until 2019)

He served as the President of the Council of the Nation, the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Algeria, between 2002 et 2019. As such, he became the Acting Head of State of Algeria in April 2019, following the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has ruled the country for 20 years. Bensalah was set to run Algeria for a period of 90 days during which a new presidential election should have to be held. However, he ran the nation longer since the election was cancelled and delayed to December 2019, when a new President was finally elected.

Biography

Abdelkader Bensalah was born on 24 November 1941 in Felaoussene, close to Tlemcen,[1][2] then part of French Algeria. After working in Beirut to direct the Algerian Center for Information and Culture from 1970 to 1974, he returned to Algeria to work as a journalist at the state newspaper El Chaâb for three years, before being elected to represent the province of Tlemcen in 1977. Twelve years later, he was appointed Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, a position he held until 1993.[3][4]

As a member of the centrist Democratic National Rally (RND), he was President of the National Transitional Council from 1994 to 1997[5] and of the People's National Assembly from 1997 to 2002.[6]

Since July 2002, he has served as President of the Council of the Nation, the upper house of parliament.[3] He replaced Abdelaziz Bouteflika for some presidential duties, like welcoming foreign leaders to Algeria, during the last part of the former President's tenure.[7] He was a strong ally of the latter, supporting his fifth candidacy even during the 2019 Algerian protests.[7]

As provided for under article 102 of the Algerian Constitution, he became acting Head of State of Algeria on 9 April 2019, seven days after the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika.[8][9] His term lasted for a maximum of 90 days while the presidential election should have been held. By law, he was barred from participating in that election.[4][10] On 19 December 2019, he received the National Order of Merit from President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.[11]

Honours

National honour

• Grand Master of the National Order of Merit

References

1. "السيرة الذاتية للسيد عبد القادر بن صالح رئيس مجلس الأمة". Site officiel du conseil de la nation. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
2. https://www.lesoirdalgerie.com/articles/2015/02/28/article.php?sid=175294&cid=2
3. Hana Saada (27 March 2019). "Algeria: Who is Abdelkader Bensalah, the future head of state?". DZ Breaking. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
4. "Abdelkader Bensalah, un fidèle de Bouteflika qui va assurer l'intérim en Algérie". Le Monde (in French). 4 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
5. "ALGERIA: parliamentary elections Al-Majlis Ech-Chaabi Al-Watani, 1997". archive.ipu.org.
6. "Algérie : qui est Abdelkader Bensalah, l'homme qui devrait prendre la succession d'Abdelaziz Bouteflika après sa démission ?". LCI.
7. "Algeria's next in line: Bouteflika loyalist Abdelkader Bensalah". France 24. 2 April 2019.
8. "Algeria's next in line: Bouteflika loyalist Abdelkader Bensalah". France 24. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
9. "Algeria protest: Abdelkader Bensalah named interim president". BBC. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
10. "Algerian Constitutional Council declares presidency vacant". TASS. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
11. "تبون يمنح وسام الاستحقاق "صدر" لعبد القادر بن صالح". ennaharonline.com (in Arabic). 19 December 2019.

Political offices
Preceded by Abdelaziz Bouteflika	Head of State of Algeria Acting 2019	Succeeded by Abdelmadjid Tebboune
Preceded by Bachir Boumaza	President of the Council of the Nation 2002–2019	Succeeded by Salah Goudjil