Algiers – Abdelkader Ben Guerina, the head of the El Bina National Movement, has suggested he may step down from his leadership position within the party. The announcement came during the opening of the National Shura Council session held at the party’s headquarters in Cheraga, west of Algiers.
Ben Guerina, who has led the party since April 2018, indicated that his tenure as president might be approaching its end. He alluded to a potential transition from a leadership role to what he described as a more ‘soldierly’ position within the movement.
It is important to recall that Abdelkader Ben Guerina was elected as the head of El Bina during its extraordinary congress in April 2018, succeeding Sheikh Mustafa Belmahdi, who had led the party since its founding in 2013. Ben Guerina was subsequently re-elected for a new term during the party’s second congress in May 2023.
These statements by Ben Guerina are considered early, raising the possibility of a leadership transition within the movement – a splinter group from the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) – outside the legally mandated timeframe associated with the third congress scheduled for 2028. This also coincides with the draft organic law related to political parties, which includes a series of significant amendments compared to the current text.
Of particular note is Article 42 of the first section in the third chapter, which concerns the organization of political parties. It stipulates that ‘a political party shall have a deliberative body and an executive body to oversee its leadership at the national level, and the head of the political party shall be elected for a term of five years, renewable once.’ Ben Guerina’s remarks have sparked debate within the party and among political analysts regarding the future direction of El Bina.
