Abdelmajid Taboun, Bouteflika's former ally who succeeds him in governing Algeria

Contrary to what was expected, independent candidate Abdel Majid Taboun managed to win the bet and win the presidency of Algeria from the first round of elections, to become the eighth president of Algeria, and the first elected successor to his former ally Abdelaziz Bouteflika who was overthrown by a popular revolution this year.

Tabun (74 years) obtained 58.15 percent of the votes of the voters, to become president from the first round, according to what the Independent National Elections Authority announced on Friday, pending confirmation and approval of these data permanently from the Constitutional Council after the end of the appeal period.

"Candidate Abdul Majeed Tabun got four million and 945 thousand votes, or 58.15 percent," in elections that registered a broad boycott and took place in an atmosphere fraught with tension, "Authority Chairman Mohamed Sharafi said in a press conference to announce the results of the elections that took place on Thursday.

Long path
- Abdul Majeed Tabun spent most of his life as a senior employee, having served as a governor (governor) several times.

After graduating from the National Higher School of Administration in the seventies of the last century, Taboun held the position of Secretary-General in the Wilayats of Djelfa (center) Adrar (southwest) Batna (east) and M'sila (center), and he also worked as governor in Adrar, Tiaret (west) and Tizi Ouzou (center) ).

He briefly became a delegated minister in 1991 under the leadership of Al-Shazly Bin Jadeed.

During this period he took the position of Minister Delegate to Local Communities (1991-1992) and then Minister of Communication and Culture in 1991.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, after his election in 1999, appointed him as Minister of Housing and Urbanism, and held his position until 2002.

- Then he returned ten years later, and he returned to take over again the Minister of Housing in 2012, and he held the position of Acting Minister of Commerce for several months.

Taboun spent the shortest period of prime minister in the country's history, as his stay in office did not exceed 90 days, when he was appointed in May 2017 and was fired in August of the same year.

Tabun's dismissal from the Prime Minister came three months after his appointment, against the background of his attack on the businessmen who revolve around the President's orbit, and most of them are in prison today on charges of corruption.

Tabun took advantage of this dismissal to push people to overlook his service alongside Bouteflika.

He is still a member of the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front (formerly ruling), but he has run as an independent away from the popularly rejected Bouteflika party.

- Taboun's victory came despite his party’s denial of the National Liberation Front, and supported the candidate of the National Democratic Assembly, Ezzedine Mihoubi, but the man had the support of the Sufi orders in the country, and many civil society organizations.

The elections he won were marked by a popular boycott and widespread rejection by the anti-Bouteflika movement and for any elections held under the symbols of his regime.

- Many confirm that Taboun is the "hidden candidate" of the regime and the deep state in Algeria; but he says in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net in response to this, "I served the Algerian state for fifty years, and worked with all previous presidents from Houari Boumediene to Shazly bin Jadid and Mohamed Boudiaf. ".

- He confirms in the same interview that his priority is to initiate the amendment of the constitution during the first three months after the presidential elections, and this is through the installation of sectoral workshops to start the process.

The announcement of Taboun’s victory in the presidency came with the weekly date of the demonstrations rejecting the elections and demanding a fundamental change of the regime, but the man pledged to open a dialogue with everyone to overcome the crisis, at a time considered that the original popular movement during the first weeks of the uprising was his legitimate demands, but he deviated in the recent period to attack Institutions.

On the external level, Taboun announced the preservation of the country's foreign policy principles, such as non-interference in the affairs of countries, and the orientation towards Africa as a strategic depth for Algeria, and he also made fiery statements against the old colonial France.