Algeria

Official name: 
People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
Name in local language: 
الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية transliterated as al-Jumhuriyatu al-jaza'iriya ad-dimuqratiya ash-sha'abiya
Form of government: 
Republic
Political system: 
Presidential
  • Founding date/ Date of independence: 1962
  • Date of constitution/latest reform:  1996, revised in 2002, 2008 and most recently on 7th March 2016
  • Form of state: Centralised
  • Administrative divisions:  48 provinces or wilayas
  • Official language(s):  Arabic
  • Other spoken languages:  Tamazigh or Berber (deemed a national but not an official language) and French
  • Official Religion: Sunni Islam
  • Minorities:   Christian, Jewish and Ibadi (Muslim minority)
  • Dominant actor(s):  Army and Secret Services
  • Elected institutions of government:  Presidency, Bi-cameral parliament, Local and Provincial councils
  • Non-elected  institutions of government:  Provincial governors (walis)
  • Party system:  multi-party system, with 3 clear blocks: nationalists, islamists and leftist parties

Current authorities

  • Head of state:   Abdelmajid Tebboune was sworn in on December 19th 2019, after controversial presidential elections of December 12th. On April 9th, Abdelkader Bensalah, chair of the Council of the Nation was dessignated as provisional president for a maximum period of 90 days (July 9th), replacing vacuum created by the resignation of long standing Abdelaziz Bouteflika (1999-2019).
  • Head of government:  Sabri Boukadoum, was nominated new interim prime minister as president Tebboune signed in on December 19th 2019. Noureddine Bedoui, who had replaced Ahmed Ouyahia, as a result of February-March 2019 protests, resigned on December 19th 2019.
  • Minister of Foreign Affairs: Currently vacant. Sabri Boukadoum replaced Ramtane Lamamra until his nomination as prime minister on December 19th 2019. Ramtane Lamamra was minister since March 2019, when he returned to the cabinet in charge of the new post of deputy prime minister.
  • Minister of Interior: Following Salah Eddine Dahmoune resignation on 19th December 2019, Kamel Beljoud signs in as interim minister of Interior.
  • Head(s) of Legislative Branch:  Mouad Bouchareb resigned on July 2nd 2019 and was replaced on July 10th by the islamist MP Slimane Chenine, current president of the APN. Bouchareb had been the presient since december 2018, when he succeded in ejecting former parliament president, Said Bouhadja (Popular National Assembly). As for the Senate, Abdelkader Bensalah has been the president of the Council of the Nation. Salah Goudjil, also from FLN, succeeded Bensalah as interim president of the higher house on April 9th 2019. Bensalah retook his office on Decmber 19th 2019, as Tebboune sworn in as president.
  • Composition of the Legislative branchLink to graph
  • Head of the Judiciary:  Abdelmajid Tebboune. The president of the Constitutional Court is Kamel Feniche, replacing former head Tayeb Belaiz, who left the post on April 2019.
  • Schematic representation of the political system: Link to pdf diagram

Links