Soufiane Djilali, born on 16 September 1958 in Blida, is an Algerian political figure. After serving as secretary-general of the Algerian Renewal Party, he founded his own movement, Jil Jadid, in 2012. He announced his candidacy for the 2014 presidential election but withdrew on 1 March 2014 following the incumbent president’s decision to seek a fourth term.

He is the third of four children and comes from an old Algiers family, the Djilali. His uncle, Abderrahmane Djilali, was a well-known theologian and historian. Soufiane grew up in El Anasser in Algiers and attended Mirabeau Primary School, then El Thaalibya High School in Hussein Dey, before completing his secondary studies at El Idrissi High School.

As a teenager, he practiced equestrian sports, especially show jumping, becoming Algeria’s champion in 1975 and a Maghreb champion in Tunis in 1978.

He earned his veterinary doctorate in 1982 from the University of Algiers, then continued postgraduate studies at Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University in Paris in collaboration with the Pasteur Institute. During his time in France, he wrote popular science articles for La Semaine vétérinaire and published research on retrovirus biology, replication mechanisms, target cells, and the development of monoclonal antibodies used to define T-lymphocyte categories in the immune system.