ALGERIA: POLITICS - Politicians have agreed to end limits on the length of presidential terms

Record ID: 573523

  • Title: ALGERIA: POLITICS - Politicians have agreed to end limits on the length of presidential terms
  • Date: 13th November 2008
  • Summary: (BN11) ALGERIA, ALGERIA (NOVEMBER 12, 2008) (REUTERS) ARRIVAL OF THE ALGERIAN PRIME MINISTER, AHMED OUYAHIA, AT THE NATIONS'S PALACE (PALAIS DES NATIONS) WIDE CONFERENCE HALL VARIOUS OF THE ALGERIAN GOVERNMENT'S MINISTERS AND OF THE DEPUTIES SAID SAADI, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE POLITICAL PARTY "RALLY FOR CULTURE AND DEMOCRACY" (RCD) TALKING
  • Embargoed: 28th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2705H5GN8C0RX212GZNF0NONP
  • Story Text: Algerian lawmakers on Wednesday (November 12) scrapped a rule limiting presidents to two terms, clearing the way for a likely bid by head of state Abdelaziz Bouteflika to extend his near decade-long rule until 2014. The 71-year-old veteran of the independence war against France has yet to say whether he wants to run again, but state media reports suggest he will contest a presidential election in April 2009 when his second five-year term expires.
    Bouteflika, who was not present in parliament, said in a letter to the chamber read out by an official after the vote that his goal is to "strengthen our political system".
    His ruling three-party coalition has an overwhelming majority in the legislature and the joint sitting of the national assembly and the Senate voted 500 for the amendment to the constitution, with 21 against and eight absentions.
    Political trends in the former French colony are closely watched around the Mediterranean because it is Africa's largest gas exporter and supplier of 20 percent of Europe's gas imports.
    Algeria boasts Africa's third biggest economy but has a long history of political violence. Africa's second largest country by area, it is still fighting militants from al Qaeda's north African wing, behind sporadic suicide bombings and shootings.
    Bouteflika's supporters say he should stay on to continue efforts to rebuild the country of 34 million people, which has regained a measure of stability after a civil war in the 1990s that cost an estimated 150,000 lives.
    Opposition politicians have called for the constitution to be respected rather than changed, referring to what they see as the presidency's dominance of the courts and legislature.
    They say that Algeria is long overdue for a change and that Bouteflika's generation, which fought the 1954-62 independence war against France, should make way for younger Algerians.
    Said Saadi, head of the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy, which voted against the amendment, said the change "aims at the total confiscation of the people's sovereignty."
    The government also faces discontent over its failure to use an oil revenue windfall to improve the lives of most Algerians, but the weak opposition is in little position to bring change.
    For months Bouteflika's allies have been urging him to go for another term, arguing that there are no other candidates with the same political weight, international connections and skills to preside over a society still traumatised by war.
    Bouteflika could have submitted the changes to a referendum but has opted not to, arguing the changes do not alter the basic system of political power and so do not need popular approval.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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