A name to be conjured with, and who we are likely to hear much more about after the Algerian legislative elections on 4 May, is that of the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sid Ahmed Ferroukhi, who heads the ruling Front de Libération Nationale’s (FLN) list in Algiers.
Ferroukhi — a man with substantive academic and administrative skills — has filled many senior roles in the administration without ever being one of its top names. That now looks likely to change. The drama seems to have been played out in the evening of Sunday 5 March in Algiers’ Moncada Hotel, where the FLN candidates’ commission had set up its headquarters over the preceding two weeks.
At that time, according to local reports, Ferroukhi had never been an FLN activist, nor even submitted his name as a candidate. Instead he was thought to be associated with the Mouvement de la Société pour la Paix (MSP). Despite this he emerged from the hotel, not just as an FLN candidate for Algiers, but also we believe, as head of the FLN’s Algiers list. This is effectively the FLN’s top position in the legislative election which bodes well for promotion with several of predecessors — notably Abdelaziz Ziari in 2007 and Mohamed Larbi Ould Khelifa in 2012 — becoming president of the National Assembly.
We do not know what went on in the Moncada Hotel, except that prior to the 5 March meeting, Abdeslam Chelghoum — a current member of the FLN’s central committee and the current agriculture minister, who had replaced Ferroukhi as minister in the June 2016 ministerial reshuffle — was widely assumed to be heading the FLN’s Algiers list.
We understand that Ferroukhi’s dramatic promotion had much to do with orders from the Presidency. Apparently it was strongly opposed to Abdeslam Chelghoum. Our understanding is that the Presidency’s opposition to Chelghoum was based on his close association with the FLN’s former secretary general, Amar Saâdani, and his possible earlier involvement with Saâdani in the latter’s embezzlement of the agricultural sector. Ferroukhi is reputed to be a man of some integrity and had allegedly stood up to both Saâdani and Chelghoum. It therefore looks as if Ferroukhi may be a name to be conjured with in the next administration.
This article has been taken from our weekly publication, Algeria Politics & Security.
