Algeria's Embattled President to Resign Before End of Term
(Bloomberg) -- Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he will step down before his fourth term officially expires on April 28, bowing to weeks of mass protests that had threatened to tip the OPEC exporter into turmoil.
Citing a statement from the presidency, the official APS news agency said the transitional period would begin with the departure of the ailing leader, who would take ”important steps to ensure continuity in the functioning of state institutions” during those changes.
The announcement comes as Bouteflika faces hundreds of thousands of demonstrators demanding he end his 20-year rule over the North African country. Protesters had been joined in recent weeks by unions and political parties. The tide turned against Bouteflika last week when his long-time ally, army chief of staff Ahmed Gaid Salah, said it was time to invoke a constitutional article that could see the 82-year-old declared unfit for office.
“This looks like it was effectively the outcome of a compromise between the army and the Bouteflika faction after the statement by the chief of staff,” said Riccardo Fabiani, senior analyst on geopolitics for Energy Aspects. “It was clear that he couldn’t stay in power for long.”
The drama unfolding in Algeria is being closely watched across the Mediterranean. Under Bouteflika, Europe’s third-largest gas supplier has been a bulwark against Islamist militancy and illegal migration from other parts of Africa. Unrest in Algeria could be felt beyond its borders.
The upheaval began when Bouteflika, incapacitated by a stroke in 2013 and rarely seen in public, announced a bid to run for a fifth term in office in the face of popular opposition.
He quickly backtracked on his re-election plan but pledged to stay in office to shepherd the country through a transition that would include drafting a new constitution. His proposal was swiftly rejected on the streets, where protesters began to call for the removal of the entire political elite that has ruled the country for decades.
Fabiani said that the latest arrangement was “all part of their script.”
“The script is always the same. The regime, even though it’s divided internally, doesn’t want to let go of power,” he said. “They’re open to the transition, but only on their terms.”
It was not clear who would replace Bouteflika pending new elections or when that vote could be held. Originally planned for April 18, Bouteflika, in announcing he wouldn’t seek a new term, scrapped the presidential vote as part of what he said was a broader plan to reshape the country, enact a transitional phase and draft a new charter.
Under the constitution, the president of the senate takes over in the interim.
The statement from the presidency said that the appointment of a new government on Sunday would be followed by other decisions to ensure the continuity of state institutions.
The announcement capped a day of tumult in the oil exporter, with authorities moving against several influential businessmen by launching corruption investigations and banning them from travel, the APS news agency reported. Among the men were three seen as particularly close to Bouteflika.
The investigations appeared to be a response by authorities to protester demands for a crackdown on the business elite that’s seen as key to Bouteflika’s survival. They, along with military officials and some members of the ruling FLN, are among “le pouvoir” -- a loosely-defined group seen as the backbone of the ruling regime.
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