ALGIERS, March 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Days after Abdelaziz Bouteflika officially submitted his nomination in the Algerian presidential polls, the opposition parties called for the postponement of the April 18 election.
The opposition parties demanded the activation of Article 102, which would provide for the vacancy of the presidency and the postponement of elections.
Twenty candidates have filed their papers to run for the upcoming polls.
Several opposition figures have already withdrawn from the election to protest 82-year-old Bouteflika’s bid to secure a fifth term.
They include Louisa Hanoune, secretary-general of Algeria’s Labor Party; Ali Benflis, a former prime minister; and Abderrazak Makri, head of Algeria’s Movement for Society for Peace.
Last month, Algeria’s ruling National Liberation Front nominated Bouteflika — who has ruled Algeria since 1999 — to run for a fifth term.
Opposition figures have repeatedly urged the aging wheelchair-bound president, who in 2013 was treated for a blood clot in the brain, to refrain from contesting the election.
Meanwhile, Algerian war veterans said protesters demanding Bouteflika step down after 20 years in power had legitimate concerns and urged all citizens to demonstrate, in another sign of cracks in the ruling elite.
“It is the duty of Algerian society in all its segments to take to the streets,” the influential National Organization of Mujahideen – veterans who fought alongside Bouteflika in the 1954-1962 war of independence against France – said.
Tens of thousands of people have rallied in cities around Algeria in the largest protests since the 2011 “Arab Spring”, calling on Bouteflika, 82, not to stand in an election scheduled for April 18. He submitted papers on Sunday.
Protesters have praised the military, which has stayed in barracks throughout the unrest. But analysts and former officials say the generals are likely to intervene if the protests lead to widespread instability.
The 82-year Bouteflika, in office since 1999, said on Sunday he would run in the April 18 poll but call early elections to find a successor after holding a national conference to discuss reforms and a new constitution.
Bouteflika has not spoken in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. He remains at a hospital in Geneva for medical checks. — NNN-AGENCIES