Two ex-prime ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal have been tried in several different cases by the very busy Sidi M'hamed tribunal in central Algiers which has brought down leading associates of Saïd Bouteflika the former president's brother...
Politics continued during the lockdown including corruption trials in civilian and military courts of oligarchs and other members of the ancien régime including key allies of late military strongman Lt Gen Ahmed Gaïd Salah as well as such fallen luminaries of Bouteflika's rule as ex-premiers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal and business moguls close to Saïd Bouteflika led by Ali Haddad...
Likewise Boutef's campaign manager and ex-premier Abdelmalek Sellal...
The group – which also includes former prime ministers Abdelmalek Sellal and Ahmed Ouhiaya employers' federation boss Ali Haddad and chief of staff General Ahmed Gaïd Salah – seriously underestimated the extent to which they have lost credibility particularly among young Algerians or the strength of the winds of change blowing through Algeria...
But the ruling elite sees few credible alternatives to Boutef: potential successors such as the former challenger Ali Benflis have been sidelined; ex-Premier Abdelmalek Sellal may even return as Bouteflika's campaign manager for a fourth time but is not seen as a likely successor (AC Vol 44 No 10 Domestic politics at last)...
Having seen off Tebboune's predecessor Abdelmalek Sellal – a rival for the eventual presidential succession – Ouyahia has now outmanoeuvred Tebboune (AC Vol 58 No 10 Polls provide no answers)...
Ouyahia returned to the Presidency where he heads Boutef's private office – and to his personal rivalry with FLN Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal another pretender for the top job...
The top team around the President – led by his brother Saïd Bouteflika; the Chief of Staff and Deputy Defence Minister Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaïd Salah; Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal; and the former Premier-turned-directeur de cabinet of the Presidential Office Ahmed Ouyahia – provide cover for Boutef who is usually absent from day-to-day business (AC Vol 57 No 13 Political plots in a slow month)...
Likely successors remain machine politicians such as Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal or former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia who would be unlikely to radically change things even though economic modernisation if not political reform is central to their discourse...
Khelil's ambition to replace Abdelmalek Sellal as Prime Minister may be on hold after bad publicity...
