Ekip
16 August 2017•Update: 17 August 2017
By Hossam al-Din Islam
ALGIERS
Ahmed Ouyahia, Algeria’s newly-appointed prime minister, formally assumed office on Wednesday, according to Algeria’s official state news agency.
Ouyahia replaces Abdul-Majeed Tabboun, who held the premiership for only 79 days before being dismissed from the post Tuesday.
“Ahmed Ouyahia officially assumed the premiership in a handover ceremony held at the Government Palace in Algiers,” the Algeria Press Service (APS) reported.
On Tuesday, APS reported that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had sacked Tabboun as prime minister -- replacing him with Ouyahia -- “in line with Article 91 of the national constitution and in consultation with Algeria’s parliamentary majority”.
No reason for the president’s abrupt move has been given.
But some commentators in the pan-Arab press and on social media have suggested that Tabboun was sacked due to his anti-corruption efforts, which had threatened certain entrenched interests within Algeria’s state bureaucracy.
It also remains unclear whether Tabboun’s sudden dismissal presages a wider cabinet reshuffle in days ahead.
Born in 1952, Ouyahia is a graduate of Algeria’s Higher School of Management. He holds a postgraduate degree in political science from the University of Algiers.
