# Algeria elects Khalida Boufedeche as first woman to lead parliament
Algeria’s parliament has elected Khalida Boufedeche as its first woman speaker, elevating a veteran lawmaker into one of the country’s highest constitutional offices and marking a symbolic break with decades of male-only leadership.
The vote took place on 2026-07-28, according to the supplied France24 report, which says Boufedeche was chosen by the People’s National Assembly and now ranks as the fourth-highest official in the country. She represents Algiers and is trained as an allergist, giving the new speaker an unusually varied political profile compared with the hard-edged party figures who typically dominate parliamentary leadership contests.
Boufedeche is a member of the National Liberation Front, the historic independence party that remains aligned with the current government. The report says she also sits on the party’s central committee. Her election therefore reflects continuity as well as change: she is a party insider, but one whose appointment breaks a longstanding gender barrier.
The chamber she now leads remains heavily male. France24 says women hold only 25 of the assembly’s 407 seats, or about six percent of the total. That makes Boufedeche’s elevation notable not only because she is the first woman to get the job, but because it comes in an institution where female representation remains limited.
The election follows parliamentary polls earlier this month in which the FLN emerged as the biggest winner with 91 seats. Those elections were marked by the lowest turnout ever recorded in Algeria, at 21 percent, underlining the wider political apathy and distrust that still surrounds the system. Boufedeche’s appointment does not resolve that legitimacy problem, but it does add a new face to the country’s formal leadership structure.
The parliamentary speakership matters in Algeria because the office sits high in the constitutional hierarchy. France24 notes that Boufedeche is now the fourth-highest-ranking official in the state. In practical terms, that gives her an important role in a political system where formal offices often matter as much for symbolism as for direct legislative power.
Her background in medicine also stands out. A trained allergist, she previously served in local politics before entering parliament. That route suggests a career that moved from professional life into public service, rather than one built entirely inside party bureaucracy.
Boufedeche’s election is unlikely to transform the broader Algerian political landscape on its own. The assembly still reflects a narrow political field, and women remain sharply underrepresented. But on 2026-07-28, the country crossed an important threshold: for the first time, the presiding officer of its main parliamentary chamber is a woman.
