Algeria Inaugurates President Few Seem to Want

Abdelmadjid Tebboune was sworn in as Algeria’s president on Thursday during an inauguration ceremony at the Palais des Nations in the capital, Algiers. A former prime minister under ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Tebboune, one of five candidates, garnered about 58% of the December 12 presidential vote. Only about 40% of eligible voters turned out for the election, with most of the rest actively boycotting the process as part of a wider movement seeking sweeping civic change, starting with the removal of the country’s power elite – with which Tebboune is closely identified. The movement gained traction at the beginning of the year when Bouteflika, severely incapacitated by a 2013 stroke, announced his candidacy for yet another term, sending people into the streets for what turned into – and remain – weekly protests.