Elected with 58.13% of the votes in the elections of December 12, 2019, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 74, is officially President of the Republic for a five-year term. He was sworn in in Algiers at a public ceremony on Thursday, December 19.
Right hand on the Koran, the new president has sworn to respect and to make respect the constitution and to adequately fulfill the function of president of the Republic. Many authorities were present at the ceremony: General Ahmed Gaid Salah, chief of staff of the army as well as the four unsuccessful candidates for the election, Abdelkader Bengrina, Ali Benflis, Azzedine Mihoudi, Abdelaziz Belaid.
The new president, elected after a controversial ballot with the lowest participation rate in the country’s political history, will have to face the popular protest movement “Hirak”, which forced President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign April 2, 2019, after 20 years at the head of the country.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune reached out to this movement and called for a national dialogue to build a new Algeria. But, this call was not heard by the members of Hirak who still plan to take to the streets this Friday, December 20, 2019 to, they say, thwart a system that has endured since 1962.
