Algeria

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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has pardoned more than 3,000 prisoners serving short sentences in the country, as he tries to garner support after months of political unrest.

There have been hundreds of arrests of those protesting against the ruling establishment.

President Tebboune was elected in December in a vote opposed by a large protest movement which wanted the entire ruling class removed.

Mr Tebboune rose from a long career as a civil servant to become prime minister in 2017 but lasted just seven months after falling out with influential businessmen. He also served as housing minister and information minister.

He was a former loyalist of Algeria's ousted leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The new Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has appointed a senior law professor, Ahmed Laraba, to head a panel of experts to revise the constitution.

Mr Tebboune, who was voted in last month, promised radical changes in his election campaign pledges.

Weekly protests are still calling for the country's entire political elite, including Mr Tebboune, to be swept away.

AFP

Former prime minister and member of Algeria's longstanding governing National Liberation Front (FLN), Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has been sworn in as the country's new president.

Mr Tebboune took the oath of office at a ceremony televised live on state TV from the Palace of Nations in the capital, Algiers.

He won the 12 December election with 58% of the vote, with turnout reported at nearly 40% despite mass protests.

After the results were announced on 13 December, state TV changed a caption in the top left corner of its screen from "Algeria votes" to "Algeria is victorious".

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Algiers last Friday chanting slogans against Mr Tebboune, who was a loyalist of ousted leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

He resigned in April in the face of nationwide demonstrations against his two-decade long rule.

Read more:

• 'Why I give up my weekends to protest'