Iran eyes strong ties with Algeria under new president Tebboune

The Iranian Foreign Ministry expressed congratulations on the successful holding of the crucial presidential election in Algeria, voicing hope that the newly-elected president would chart a new era for the Iranian-Algerian deeply-rooted ties.

In a statement on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Seyed Abbas Mousavi dubbed Algeria's presidential election as an important step toward the realization of democracy, development, and prosperity in a calm atmosphere.
He offered his congratulation to the president-elect, wishing him every success and further advancement and prosperity, reasserting keenness to promote and enhance bilateral relations binding the two brotherly countries in all fields.

Iran and Algeria's brotherly relations are deeply rooted and go back to the 1960s. Soon after Algeria’s independence from France in 1962, Iran was among the first countries to recognize it as an independent nation, opening the Iranian embassy in autumn of 1964, in Algiers.

Following the victory of 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, bilateral ties between the two nations developed and the two countries intensified meetings and exchanges culminating in the adoption of similar stances on an array of international issues, particularly the problems faced by the World of Islam like the ones in Palestine and Syria. Algeria is one of countries that have independent positions close to those of Iran on many issues, including in terms of its political literature.

Iran and Algeria enjoy constructive relations with bilateral cooperation increasing. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed, in 2007, Iran’s determination to remove all obstacles to developing economic ties between Iran and Algeria.

Over 2008, bilateral trade between Algeria and Iran increased. In addition to bilateral trade in commercial good, Iran and Algeria have inked up to 70 agreements and MoUs in different fields, to wit, inter alia, energy, industry, banking, agricultural industries, mining, energy, justice, education, tourism, culture, and art.

Late in October, Iranian president held, on the sidelines of the 18th Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Baku, a meeting with the interim President of Algeria Abdelkader Bensalah, during which they agreed to introduce new mechanisms for developing relations. Forming the economic commission of the two countries was on the agenda of the talks with a view to further contributing to the enhancement of this cooperation.

During the meeting, the Iranian president said that Iran and Algeria have cordial relations, adding that the two countries should further boost economic and trade cooperation.

Bin Saleh, for his part, described the two countries as historic and strategic.

“I am happy that the two countries have common stances in most of the fields, which should lead to promotion of economic cooperation proportionate to the two countries' capabilities and capacities,” he added.

It is worth recalling that the president-elect Tebboune represented Algeria in Iran after his departure from the government.

Algeria’s crucial presidential election

According to official results announced by the election commission, Tebboune, who served in a number of cabinet posts under Bouteflika including two stints as housing minister, snatched a landslide victory, after securing 58 percent of the vote, avoiding the need for a run-off against any of four other senior former officials sanctioned to stand.

He became the North African country's 8th elected president since it gained independence from France in 1962, replacing the long-serving president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, pushed out by the fierce pro-democracy popular protests, erupted in February.

His rivals included another former premier, two former ministers and a former member of the ruling party's central committee.

Thursday's vote was opposed by Hirak, a nine-month-old protest movement, calling for the sweeping away of the entire political establishment before the organization of any ballot to guarantee transparency.

Who is Tebboune?

Abdelmejid Tebboune was born on 17 November 1945, in Mishriah (Naama province), southwest of the Algerian Republic. He graduated from the National School of Administration (Algeria). 

His entire career was in the public service and all the positions he held were through appointments, from an employee in the administration to a secretary-general in several provinces (governorates), to the governor of more than one region, then a minister and finally a prime minister.

He began his career in 1969 as a trainee administrator, then administrator in 1972 in the province of Saoura.

As long as his political career is concerned, he occupied the post of as secretary-general of the province of Djelfa in 1975, before being transferred in 1977 to the province of Adrar, then to the province of Batna in 1979, and at the province of M'Sila in 1982.

From 1983 to 1989, Abdelmadjid Tebboune held the post of Governor in several provinces: Adrar, Tiaret, and Tizi-Ouzou.

The first ministry Tebboune headed was as the acting Minister of Local Communities (1991), as a deputy of the Minister of Interior General Larbi Belkhir. He didn’t leave this position until 19 July 1992, after Ali Kafi was appointed the head of the Supreme State Council, after the assassination of President Mohammed Boudiaf, on 29 June 1992.

The president-elect spent decades at the heart of successive governments headed by President Chadli Bendjedid and the long-serving president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

He served as Bouteflika’s communications minister in 1999 and minster of Housing from 2001 to 2002 and again from 2012 to 2017.

The shortest-serving prime minister in Algerian history served from May to August 2017 before being dismissed by the then-President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika and replaced by Ahmed Ouyahia, currently in prison.

He represented Algeria in several missions abroad (in Iran, in Syria) after his departure from the government.

In his maiden speech, Mr. Tebboune extended his hand to the protesters, stressing he was ready to meet with protest leaders to “listen to them (and) respond to their concerns.” He said that his priority is to revise the constitution to establish a “new Algeria” that corresponds to the aspirations of the movement, a project that would be put to a referendum. He promised to include “young men and young women” in his new government.

Every Friday for almost a year, Algerians have taken to the streets in the thousands, protesting at first against former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to stand as a candidate for a fifth consecutive term in elections that were due to take place in April. The –then president responded favorably to their claims and stepped down in April. He was replaced by the Speaker of the Council of the Nation Abdelkader Bensalah.

However, despite his announcement to withdraw from political life, the protesters did not give up. They are still taking into the streets, calling for the overthrow of the opaque and unpopular old guard, including all the officials associated with Mr. Bouteflika’s regime.

It will be Mr. Tebboune’s role to find a compromise that will appease his people and allow his country to chart a new era. His biggest challenge will be to rebuild trust between the protesters and the Algerian authorities. This later, faced by this movement, enacted some change in an attempt to calm down public discontent by launching anti-graft investigations and cracking down high-level corruption. Influential businessmen and politicians from Mr. Bouteflika’s inner circle have been detained. Some of them went on trial and were convicted and sentenced to heavy prison terms.

A military court convicted the brother of ousted President Bouteflika, Said Bouteflika,  who had wielded enormous influence as gatekeeper to his ailing brother while in office. He was seen as the linchpin of an opaque clique of politicians and business leaders who influenced decision-making at the top of the gas-exporting North African country. The advisor and key aide of the former President of the Republic Bouteflika is incarcerated in Blida prison and sentenced to fifteen years in prison for conspiracy against the state alongside the other co-defendants - two former intelligence chiefs and the head of a political party.

Last week, Algiers court sentenced two former prime ministers to long jail terms, as part of the high-profile corruption trials.  The verdict came just two days before Algeria’s presidential election. Former prime ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, who were both close to the ousted president, were sentenced to 15 years and 12 years respectively. It was the first time since Algeria's independence from France in 1962 that former prime ministers were put on trial.

A bunch of ministers and prominent oligarchs were imprisoned, during the same landmark trial, convicted of charges ranging from “corruption to abuse of power, granting undue privileges in the vehicle assembly industry, embezzlement, squandering of money and the misappropriation of public funds”.

Algerian authorities are hoping the trials and presidential election holding would bridge the trust gap between the Algerians and their government and help convince the public that they are serious about fighting corruption and reforming themselves since corruption is a key claim for Algeria's peaceful 9-month-old protest movement.