Hommam Al Nassim 
Algerian businesswoman Saida Nagza, president of the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises, announced her candidacy for the presidential elections scheduled for next September.
Nagza is the third candidate to announce her intention to run in the elections, after the leader of the Trotskyist Workers’ Party, Louisa Hanoun, and the lawyer defending freedoms, Zubaida Assoul.
Nagza told reporters: “I took this decision after long thought and full awareness of the high hopes that the Algerian people have.”
Nagza stressed that “it is our duty to change mentalities, and we must roll up our sleeves and face all these battles related to our future with courage and determination.”
Nagza has been president of the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises since 2016, and her name came to the forefront of events in September 2023 when she sent a letter to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune denouncing the obstacles faced by entrepreneurs.
She explained in her letter that they are complaining about “the fines imposed by a committee of five ministers without giving them the right to view their files,” which in some cases are fines that exceed the size of their companies’ assets and that they cannot pay.
Local media reported that this committee was later frozen.
Early presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Algeria on September 7, and so far, President Tebboune, who was elected in December 2019, has not announced whether he will seek to win a new term.
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