Newly elected President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune
ALGIERS, Dec 14 (NNN-Xinhua) — The newly elected President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune said he committed to open dialogue with the protest movement claiming change, saying there will be “no revenge, nor exclusion and marginalization during his term.”
Tebboune, who was announced to be the eighth president of Algeria earlier on Friday, told a press conference that he has “a number of priorities to tackle at the beginning of his term as president, namely opening dialogue with the different components of the protest movement” rocking the country since Feb 22.
In this regard, Tebboune noted that his program “will make radical change, as it sets rupture with the old system of governance a main goal.”
He revealed that “one of his priorities is to craft a new constitution and setting it for popular referendum,” adding that a wide scale dialogue with all components of the society, including academics, economists, politicians, civil society and intellectuals, will be in a bid to draw a draft constitution for the new state of Algeria.
Tebboune added that a new election law will be crafted, which likely be followed by parliamentary and local elections.
The new president further said that he is “committed to boost lagging economy by slowing down the erosion of reserves, principally by tracking down inflated invoices with the aim of curbing the import bill.”
Tebboune also vowed to “continue combating corruption and corrupted people,” saying “I’m committed also to retrieve the huge public funds that were looted by former government officials and businessmen” during the era of ousted President Bouteflika.
Tebboune announced that he will establish no political party nor any other political movement, saying “my mission is to restore the prestige, integrity, purity and credibility of the state in regard of the people.”
As the cabinet he is due to form in the forthcoming days, Tebboune said “it would be the most difficult task because it will be followed up scrupulously by the people,” reassuring that “it will contain a pleasant surprise, as it will include young ministers.”
Tebboune, 74 years old, was elected the eighth president of this North African nation since Algeria won independence from France in 1962, as he grabbed a majority vote of 58.15 percent in the presidential polls held on Thursday. More than 4.9 million voters chose Tebboune out of 8.5 million expressed votes. — NNN-XINHUA
