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News > World

Algeria's Interim President's Term Expires, Uncertainty Reigns

  • Demonstrators carry flags during a protest demanding the removal of the ruling elite in Algiers, Algeria July 5, 2019, the day marking the country's independence day.

    Demonstrators carry flags during a protest demanding the removal of the ruling elite in Algiers, Algeria July 5, 2019, the day marking the country's independence day. | Photo: Reuters

Published 9 July 2019
Opinion

Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah's term is due to expire on Tuesday, and despite popular pressure, he vowed to prolong his term in order to avoid the risk of "a constitutional vacuum."

Uncertainty about Algeria's institutional future reigns on Tuesday as the interim president's three month term is coming to an end with no alternative plan.

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Thousands of people have maintained the popular pressure in the streets for a twentieth consecutive week in Algeria's capital and other regions of the country, defying a major police presence.

They demand regime insiders to step aside, more than three months after forcing longtime ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika into resigning.

On Wedesday, interim president Abdelkader Bensalah called for a national dialogue, in which he promised the state and army would remain neutral.

An already delayed presidential election was postponed again early last month from a planned date of July 4, after only two potential runners - both little known - submitted their candidacies.

The regime "is in the process of reformulating the same propositions - their only objective is to keep the current system in place," said Linda Hamrouche, a 28-year-old protester to AFP on Friday's protests in the capital. "Therefore (we say) no dialogue in these conditions," she added.

A first call for dialogue by Bensalah - launched in early June - had been limited to the political classes.

The interim president has said he will remain in place until elections are organized.

Last month, the Constitutional Council issued a "fetwa" prolonging de facto the interim term of Bensalah until presidential elections can be hold - a move heavily criticized by opponents.

Alongside the creation of independent institutions, protesters are demanding that the police stop arresting demonstrators.

Protesters and many observers view Salah, who has consistently refused their demands, as the key powerbroker in the country, and believe Bensalah wields little real influence.

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