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Algeria's Bouteflika appoints new premier in post-poll reshuffle

Arab World Materials 4 September 2012 01:35 (UTC +04:00)
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday appointed a technocratic new prime minister as part of a post-election cabinet reshuffle, the presidency said.
Algeria's Bouteflika appoints new premier in post-poll reshuffle

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday appointed a technocratic new prime minister as part of a post-election cabinet reshuffle, the presidency said.

Bouteflika named Abdelmalek Sellal, a long-serving minister, to replace Ahmed Ouyahia, who had held the position since 2008, dpa reported.

The presidency said in a statement that Ouyahia had tendered his resignation and that of his government.

The reshuffle had been expected since May's parliamentary election.

Bouteflika's National Liberation Front (FLN), which has ruled Algeria since it won independence from France 50 years ago, won reelection.

But fewer than one in two voters participated in the ballot, reflecting widespread disillusionment with politics in the one North African country that the Arab Spring seemed to bypass.

Sellal, who most recently served as water minister, is described as a consensus man. He ran Bouteflika's successful reelection campaign in 2004.

Like Ouyahia, he is a member of the National Rally for Democracy, which is in coalition with the FLN.

His first task will be to assist Bouteflika in choosing a new government.

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