Cairo — On Tuesday, Algeria’s parliament named the head of its upper house as interim president, potentially placing the country’s tumultuous transition into the hands of a man widely seen as cut from the same cloth as the outgoing Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Abdelkader Bensalah’s nomination paves the way for the start of a transitional period after Bouteflika was forced to step down a week ago in the face of mass protests that plunged the oil cartel Opec member into its deepest political crisis since a civil war in the 1990s. Algeria’s constitution mandates that power transfer to the senate head if the president resigns, and while Bensalah’s nomination was widely expected, it is almost as unpalatable to demonstrators as Bouteflika’s remaining in office. Pan-Arab satellite network Arabiya reported that protests resumed again within minutes of the parliament’s announcement. Bensalah will take over for a period of 90 days, during which officials are supposed to schedule new presidential ele...
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