Abdelkader Bensalah

Abdelkader Bensalah was an Algerian politician who served as acting head of state from April to December 2019. For 17 years before that, he presided over the Council of the Nation, the upper house of parliament. He was born on 24 November 1941 in Fellaoucène, in the wilaya of Tlemcen, and died on 22 September 2021 in Algiers.

At 18 Bensalah joined the National Liberation Army, and after independence he studied law in Damascus.

In 1967 the young graduate joined the newspaper Ech-Chaab as a correspondent, and in 1974 he became its director general. He was elected to parliament in 1977 and later served as ambassador to Saudi Arabia and as spokesman of the foreign ministry.

From 1994 to 1997 he was president of the National Transitional Council, a temporary assembly. In 1997 he helped found the National Rally for Democracy (RND) and became president of the National People's Assembly, until 2002.

After President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned, parliament named Bensalah acting head of state on 9 April 2019. He organised the presidential election of 12 December 2019 and passed power to Abdelmadjid Tebboune on 19 December.

Bensalah died aged 79, after a long illness. He was buried the next day at El Alia cemetery, and flags flew at half-mast for 3 days.