Abdelkader Bensalah, the former president of Algeria, died today, Wednesday, September 22, 2021, at the age of 80 after a struggle with illness.

Saleh passed away just 4 days after the departure of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was overthrown by a popular uprising on April 2, 2019, after which Saleh led the country in a thorny political stage.

Birth and upbringing

- November 24, 1941: Abdelkader Bensalah was born in Beni Meshel (Municipality of Mehraz) in the state of Tlemcen, western Algeria.

He received his primary education in Ain Youssef, in the Ramshi district of Tlemcen.

1962: He joined the Faculty of Law at Damascus University in Syria, from which he obtained a BA.

1967: He began his career as a journalist in the government newspaper "Al-Shaab", and became general manager of the newspaper from 1974 to 1977.

From the Liberation Army to Parliament

- In 1959: Bensalah joined the ranks of the National Liberation Army from Morocco, where he received training in laying and clearing mines in the city of Al-Arayesh, and joined the National Liberation Army base in Zganghan (near the Moroccan city of Nador).

He served as a political governor in the eighth region - belonging to the fifth state - until the independence of Algeria on the fifth of July 1962, after which he was released from the Liberation Army at his request.

He became a Member of Parliament for his state of Tlemcen for 3 consecutive terms, starting in 1977.

1989: Appointed as Algeria's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and permanent representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah.

1993: Became a spokesman for the Algerian Foreign Ministry.

- Nejm Bensalah began to emerge within the regime during the "red decade" that the country experienced after the electoral process was suspended in early 1992.

- During that period, the country witnessed massacres of civilians, so the regime decided to establish an alternative political party to the historical party, the National Liberation Front, as part of a plan to renew the country's political facade and support it with young elements.

1994: He headed the Transitional Council (the parliament of the nineties crisis).

"National Democratic Rally" party

1997: The birth of the National Democratic Rally, the second most powerful party loyal to the authority, was announced after the "National Liberation Front", of which Bensalah was one of its founders.

1997: He presided over the People's National Assembly (the first chamber of Parliament) for one term.

2002: Became Speaker of the National Assembly (the second chamber of Parliament).

- After the outbreak of the “Arab Spring” and the “oil and sugar uprising in Algeria” in January 2011, the authority organized a series of wide consultations with national parties, organizations and personalities to listen to their proposals to launch a package of reforms, the most important of which was to amend the constitution. Bensalah headed the authority formed by the authority to manage the dialogue .

- Bensalah, head of the Consultation Committee, submitted a comprehensive report to Bouteflika, following meetings with heads of parties and civil society actors and national figures, which was elaborated in a number of laws issued in 2012.

2012: When the National Democratic Rally Party entered a stormy crisis that ended with the resignation of its Secretary General, Ahmed Ouyahia, Bensalah was summoned to take over the party's acting presidency.

2013: He was elected in an extraordinary party conference as its Secretary-General, before he submitted his resignation in 2015, making way for Ouyahia's return.

Bouteflika's personal representative

2013: After Bouteflika suffered a stroke, Bensalah became Bouteflika's personal representative in regional and international forums, especially in the Arab League sessions.

Bensalah was keen to avoid taking any positions that might anger one of the leaders of the regime.

Some leaders in his party say that he "calculates every little thing to the point of cowardice," and often accuses those close to him of "wanting to push him into error."

The real reason for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's adherence to him as a second man in the state is not known, and a controversy erupted in Algeria over the history of the Bensalah family when rumors spread that he was Moroccan, and he was granted Algerian citizenship in 1965.

the temporary president

- April 2, 2019: President Bouteflika announced his resignation from the presidency a few weeks before the end of his term on April 28, for Saleh to assume responsibility temporarily in implementation of Article 102 of the Constitution as Speaker of the National Assembly (the second chamber of Parliament), which states that the president The National Assembly assumes the presidency temporarily for a period of 90 days, during which presidential elections are organized in which he does not run as a candidate.

- December 19, 2019, Bensalah handed over the presidency to the new president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, after the latter's victory in a presidential vote that took place on the 12th of the same month.

- Bensalah was scheduled to return - after handing over the tasks to Tebboune - to the presidency of the National Assembly, which he has headed since 2002, which makes him the second man in the state, but the presidency then announced that Bensalah decided to resign from his position and withdraw from political life, in When sources said that his health deteriorated.

At that stage, the man faced a complex political situation that lasted for 8 months - between April and December 2019 - which was characterized by a raging street calling for the departure of all symbols of the regime, and an authority trying to cross the stage at the lowest political cost.

The Quiet

Bensalah is known to be a quiet and discreet man, who does not like to appear in the media.

- He never appeared in a press conference when he assumed the leadership of the state, the National Assembly, or the National Democratic Assembly (participant in the ruling coalition / center-right);

It only communicates through official letters and written statements.

During his leadership of the state, he only appeared to address the people on official occasions or to announce political decisions.