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Algeria to hold presidential election this year - interim president

16 September 2019
11036
2019-09-16 12:28

Algeria will hold a presidential election on December 12, interim President Bensalah said in a televised speech on Sunday. Weekly mass demonstrations forced veteran president Bouteflika to resign in April, leaving Algeria in constitutional limbo and facing a stand-off between the protesters and the army-backed government. Bensalah said an independent electoral commission will be formed to oversee the upcoming election.

The announcement comes days after tens of thousands of Algerians marched in the capital on Friday. The army wants a presidential election as soon as possible to break the deadlock between the protesters and the authorities. The absence of an elected president has left Africa's largest country in constitutional limbo. Algeria is a key gas supplier to Europe and it is a U.S. partner in its fight against militant Islamist groups in the Sahara and Sahel regions.

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