Abdelkader Bensalah

Abdelkader Bensalah was born on 24 November 1941 in Felaoussene, close to Tlemcen,[1][2] then part of French Algeria. After working in Beirut to direct the Algerian Center for Information and Culture from 1970 to 1974, he returned to Algeria to work as a journalist at the state newspaper El Chaâb for three years, before being elected to represent the province of Tlemcen in 1977. Twelve years later, he was appointed Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, a position he held until 1993.[3][4]

As a member of the centrist Democratic National Rally (RND), he was President of the National Transitional Council from 1994 to 1997[5] and of the People's National Assembly from 1997 to 2002.[6]

Since July 2002, he has served as President of the Council of the Nation, the upper house of parliament.[3] He replaced Abdelaziz Bouteflika for some presidential duties, like welcoming foreign leaders to Algeria, during the last part of the former President's tenure.[7] He was a strong ally of the latter, supporting his fifth candidacy even during the 2019 Algerian protests.[7]

As provided for under article 102 of the Algerian Constitution, he became acting Head of State of Algeria on 9 April 2019, seven days after the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika.[8][9] His term lasted for a maximum of 90 days while the presidential election should have been held. By law, he was barred from participating in that election.[4][10] On 19 December 2019, he received the National Order of Merit from President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.[11]