Algeria: Constitutional Council scraps July 4 elections after canceling 2 candidacies

The Algerian Constitutional Council Sunday cancelled the July 4 presidential election after canceling the two candidacies it received for the unpopular electoral process rejected by the majority of Algerians, angry at the remnant of the Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s regime.

The council called on the interim President Abdelkader Bensalah to set a new date for the elections. The cancellation would probably extend Bensalah’s 90-day interim role that ends in July.

Bensalah was named caretaker early April after former President Bouteflika resigned due to pressure from the army and the street.

The Constitutional Council May 24 announced that it only received two candidacies after all key political figures from the opposition and even from the regime boycotted the process.

Opposition parties and movements are calling for national consultations to set a new path of the country and are demanding the complete overhaul of the former President’s regime.

The army’s Chief of Staff, Ahmed Gaed Salah, who has been playing a key in Bouteflika’s aftermath, late last month called on the opposed sides to accept the election to avoid a constitutional vacuum.