Algeria’s new president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was elected with 58.13percent of the votes in the first round of the December 12 presidential election, has been sworn in at a public ceremony in Algiers, reports said on Thursday.
With his right hand on the Koran, the new president pronounced the 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 “act to consolidate the democratic process, to respect the free choice of the people.”
Abdelmadjid Tebboune, a former minister then head of government under President Bouteflika, 74, was elected in the first round as President of the Algerian Republic with 58.15 percent of the vote, the National Elections Authority announced last weeek Friday.
In this poll, more than 24.5 million Algerians were called to elect the successor of Abdelaziz Bouteflika among five candidates, in a very tense atmosphere marked by social protests that have lasted since February 22.
This is the third presidential election that the authorities are trying to organize this year, after that of April 18, 2019 which was to pave the way for the 5th term of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, before he was forced to resign, and that of July 4, 2019 which had to be canceled, as no one had stood for president, due to the scale of social unrest in the country.
The day after his election, Abdelmadjid Tebboune “reached out to the Hirak”, calling for a “dialogue in order to build a new Algeria” and end the country’s political crisis. But the day after the election, a large crowd had jeered at the newly elected head of state, reaffirming that the “Hirak” (fight) would continue. A new call to demonstrate on Friday, December 20 has been made.
HA/fss/abj/APA