Algerian parliament selects opposition member as new speaker
CGTN
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The Algerian parliament in a historic move has elected unanimously Slimane Chenine, an Islamist-oriented lawmaker, as the new speaker of the People’s National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament.

The election which was broadcast live on state-run ENTV channel was however boycotted by opposition parties among them the Socialist Forces Front, the Rally for Culture and Democracy and the Islamist Movement for the Society of Peace.

Lawmakers of the former ruling parties of the National Liberation Front and the National Democratic Rally endorsed Chenine, who belongs to the Islamist opposition party of the National Construction Movement (BINA).

Chenine will now replace Mouad Bouchareb, who resigned a week ago. Bouchareb called it quits after intense pressure from opposition parties that he was illegally appointed as parliament speaker six months ago.

No candidate from the opposition had been elected the head of the parliament before Chenine who is a senior official at BINA party, which split from the prominent Islamist Movement for the Society of Peace (HAMS).