Ahmed Ouyahia

Three major parties in the ruling Alliance Présidentielle (AP) of course supported Bouteflika: the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia’s Rassemblement National Démocratique (RND) and the Mouvement de la Société pour la Paix (Harakat Mujtamaa as-Silm, in Arabic, or MSP)...

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia (also born in Kabyle but widely unpopular there, even among his own family) shares with the PT’s Hanoune and the RCD’s Sadi a staunch opposition to Islamist organisations...

The latter move seems to further strengthen the presidential hold as the new Prime Minister – who is the old Head of Government, Ahmed Ouyahia – is charged with implementing the president’s programme...

The Rassemblement National Démocratique (RND) leader, ex-Premier Ahmed Ouyahia, is among those who want the top job but he may have to wait while attention remains focused on older men – Bouteflika and, pulling strings from the shadows, the veteran security chief, Major General Mohamed ‘Tewfik’ Medienne...

The three parties in the ruling coalition have 249 MPs: the FLN, 136; ex-Premier Ahmed Ouyahia's Rassemblement National Démocratique, 62 and the 'moderate Islamist' Mouvement de la Société de Paix, 51...

Boutef is now expected to seek a more ‘secular’ head of government, possibly marking a comeback for former Premier (and presidential hopeful) Ahmed Ouyahia or another ‘moderniser’ close to the army, such as Water Resources Minister Abdelmalek Sellal...

Also jockeying for position is Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, from the smaller Rassemblement National Démocratique, who believes he has a deal to succeed Bouteflika in 2009, if not before...

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has positioned himself as successor, though whether Boutef honours an apparent promise to back the Rassemblement National Démocratique (RND) in the 2009 presidential poll remains to be seen...

Tipped for Prime Minister again is Ahmed Ouyahia, although his enemies would like him to be replaced by a grandee from the revived Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) - the biggest party in the Assemblée Populaire Nationale (APN), now back with Bouteflika after its flirtation with the independent-minded Benflis...

Islah is the third largest party in parliament, behind the divided FLN and Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia's pro-Boutef Rassemblement National Démocratique (RND)...