What Is Hidden Behind The “Conflict” Between Ouyahia And Djamel Ould Abbas?

The repeated statements of denial issued by the leaders of the two majority parties, namely Djamel Ould Abbas and Ahmed Ouyahia, haven’t halted the ongoing acrimonious debate between the two officials.

FLN party leader Djamel Ould Abbas used of late the opportunity of his encounter with his party’s rank and file in the west of the country, to talk about the background of his opponents’ criticism of what was dubbed as the recently-held “informal tripartite,” while RND party leader Ahmed Ouyahia was keen to leak assurances from within the meeting of the National Office of his party, regarding his future at the Premiership.

Much of the political and media readings have delved into the recent tripartite meeting bringing together Ould Abbas, with the Secretary-General of the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) and the Chairman of the Forum of Heads of Enterprises (FCE), which witnessed an escalation by the National Liberation Front against the Prime Minister who had cleared the way for privatization decisions by announcing the opening of the remainder of the Public capital to the private sector, to social and economic partners, as well as an inventory of vehicles.

Djamel Ould Abbas summoned up his strength and rose his tone towards the prime minister, only after Ouyahia froze the previous  order, which limited the assembling of cars in Algeria to only ten locally-based dealers, a decision that could be understood as having been made by higher authorities with the power to rescind decisions taken by the Premiership.

“From now on the Government should coordinate with us.” I came out with decisions made during the “tripartite” that did not seem to appeal to the “National Liberation Front” and other parties in the decision-making circles, he sternly underlined.

It was known that the old party was the “Godfather” of the national public sector. It grew up in the hands of left-wing liberalism, he added. 

“Today, the FLN party is regarded as the first political force in the country, and its president is the President of the Republic,  who is entitled to oppose any decision issued by the Premiership, at the level of parliament or at the level of other sources of decision-making, hammered Djamel Ould Abbas.

The leadership of the second political force (RND) in the country recognizes that the suspension of a decision signed by the prime minister means a lot in terms of political considerations. 

Observers note, to this effect, that that this inter-party showdown means that something is unraveling behind the walls.