Algeria’s interim president Abdelkader Bensalah announced December 12th the date of the presidential elections, however, none of the parties and active forces in the country responded to his announcement.
Independent National Authority for the Organization of Elections began its deployment in Algeria’s 48 states, after being approved by the Constitutional Council as a constitutional body. The authority was strongly criticized for its poor choice of members, who are not well known for the public except its president, Mohammed Sharafi, who twice served as justice minister under former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Sharafi and the rest of the members are expected to face great difficulties in opening state offices, due to the popular rejection of this body. It is seen as a “tool” used by the authorities to circumvent the demands of the popular movement asking for a radical regime change.
However, many Algerians support the National Authority and elections in general, considering it is a way out of a protracted crisis.
Activists and university professors in Oran, the country’s largest city in the west, organized a demonstration against the proposed presidential elections.
Observers expect the slogans of the weekly student demonstration to be directly against Bensalah’s call for the election of a new president.
Sources close to the matter quoted Bensalah as saying that he wants to leave office as soon as possible due to the pressure from the movement, in addition to the fact that he suffers from an illness which has become noticeable during his latest statement.
Head of National Liberation Front, Ali Benflis, implicitly expressed his will to run the elections by announcing his support for holding the polls before the end of the year.
Benflis, a former prime minister, ran twice in the presidential elections of 2004 and 2014, and in both times he came second after Bouteflika.
According to political sources, head of El-Moustakbal Front and a presidential candidate in 2014, Abdelaziz Belaid will also announce his candidacy by the end of the week.
Movement of Society for Peace has begun its consultations on the candidacy of its president Abdelkader Bengrina, a former minister. He is likely to enter the upcoming race.
Notably, the three parties to which the presumed candidates belong did not announce clear positions on many ongoing issues, unlike many political forces, namely imprisoning prominent political figures like Karim Tabbou, Louisa Hanoune, and Lakhdar Bouregaa. All three figures are detained on charges of insulting the army.
Two other retired officers, General Hocine Benhadid, 76, and Major General Ali Ghadiri, are also imprisoned for similar charges.
Ghadiri ran for presidential election on April 18 which was canceled by the movement against Bouteflika for running for a fifth term.