Algeria elects first woman to lead parliament
Khalida Boufedeche becomes Algeria’s first female parliamentary speaker after election by lawmakers following this month’s legislative polls
ALGIERS, Algeria (MNTV) — Algeria’s parliament elected Khalida Boufedeche as its first female speaker, marking a historic milestone in the country’s political history and placing her among the nation’s highest-ranking officials.
Boufedeche, a physician specializing in allergy treatment and a lawmaker representing the capital, Algiers, belongs to the governing-aligned National Liberation Front (FLN), the party that led Algeria’s struggle for independence.
Her election follows parliamentary elections held earlier this month, in which the FLN emerged as the largest party by winning 91 seats in the 407-member National People’s Assembly.
The legislative vote, however, recorded the lowest voter participation in Algeria’s history, with turnout reaching only 21 percent.
Before entering the national legislature, Boufedeche served in local government and is also a member of the FLN’s central committee.
She now presides over a parliament where women remain significantly underrepresented. Female lawmakers currently occupy only 25 of the assembly’s 407 seats, representing about six percent of the chamber.
The number marks a continued decline in women’s parliamentary representation. The previous legislature included 38 women, while the parliament elected in 2017 had 118 female members under an electoral quota system that has since been abolished.
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