Arabic version: بوفدش تصبح أول امرأة تتولى رئاسة البرلمان الجزائري

According to France 24, Khalida Boufedeche has been elected Algeria’s first-ever woman parliamentary speaker, becoming the country’s fourth-highest-ranking official. Parliament elected her on Tuesday evening.

Boufedeche is an allergist by training and represents Algiers, the Algerian capital. She belongs to the central committee of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN), the historic party of Algerian independence that is allied with the current government.

The FLN won 91 of the parliament’s 407 seats in elections earlier this month, making it the largest winner. Those elections recorded Algeria’s lowest-ever turnout, at 21 percent.

Before entering parliament, Boufedeche had served in local politics. She takes over the speakership in a legislature where women hold 25 seats, representing six percent of the total.

The previous parliament had 38 women members. The legislature before that had 118 women after the 2017 elections, which were conducted under a quota system.