What Will Be Sellal's Political future?

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, ended, on Wednesday, a five-year career of his former campaign manager and PM, Abdelmalek Sallal.

This could also be the end of his trip inside the executive branch, which began nearly two decades ago, raising questions about the political future of the man.

Presidency of the Republic, announced, on Wednesday that the Minister of Housing, Abdelmadjid Tabboun, was appointed as the Prime Minister, replacing, Abdelmalek Sallal, who was appointed PM in 2012 and remained steadfast in the face of several partial and extensive changes in the executive branch.

Since 2004, Sallal’s name remained associated with the administration of the presidential campaign until the last presidential elections in 2014.

Decision to remove Sellal from government leadership is also the end of his career within the executive branch, which began in 1998, when he was recalled from his functions as Romania ambassador, to oversee the 1999 presidential elections as an interior minister.

Since that date, Sallal carried several portfolios, including youth, sports, water resources, transport and public works.

If Sellal’s return to the government and the acceptance of even the post of Minister of State is currently excluded, then his political future is vague, although there are some circulating leaks about the possibility of appointment within the third-party in the National Assembly in preparation for the presidency of the successor Abdelkader Ben Saleh.

This option also seems excluded because the president has exhausted appointments in the presidential bloc except for the compensation of the late Miloud Chorfi, and the mid-term renewal of the commission, in which the president was elected early last year, and the next elections will be held in early 2019.

In recent months there have been analyzes of a presidential ambition for Sellal, in preparation for succeeding President Bouteflika in 2019, which was evident when he led a campaign parallel to the legislative campaign, when he visited several states and appeared in the guise of a presidential candidate.

Abderrazak Makri, head of the HAMS movement, said that the parliamentary race revealed parallel competition in the form of a pre-presidential campaign between Abdelmalek Sallal and Ahmed Ouyahia, who is RND’s secretary-general.

Sellal’s Removal from the political front is a severe blow to his political ambitions in the succession of President Bouteflika, especially since the man lacked the political cover to prepare for this date, despite he was presented on the grounds that he is a member of the National Liberation Front Party, without a presence in the structures of the party leadership, at a time when leaks speak about appointing him as Algeria’s ambassador to Paris, a post that is currently vacant.

On the other hand, the analysis goes that the departure of Sellal from the government leadership, may be a decision that exempts him from his official commitments in preparing himself for the battle of 2019, as an independent candidate, that may be supported by the regime.