Algerian president says he will not run again after weeks of protests

[muriel_volestrangler]

The Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has withdrawn his bid for a fifth term in office following mass protests against his rule and postponed elections scheduled for April.

Bouteflika announced the dramatic move on Monday in a letter to the Algerian people released by his office. The 82-year-old leader, in power for two decades, acknowledged three consecutive weeks of demonstrations against his rule, in which hundreds of thousands from across Algerian society took to the streets.
...
Bouteflika’s address laid out seven promises to the nation in order to safeguard a peaceful transition of power at the end of his twenty year reign. He returned to Algeria following two weeks of medical treatment in Geneva late Sunday night, arriving in a country beset by protests and a general strike.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Algeria on Friday, marking the third week of demonstrations against his rule. But what began as protests against his bid for a fifth term as president quickly expanded into opposition to the entire regime around the infirm leader.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/11/algerian-president-says-he-will-not-run-again-after-weeks-of-protests

[Ghost Dog]

1. ... And has indefinitely postponed elections.

... Bouteflika said the government would organise a national conference under the direction of an independent presidential commission. “This will independently decide the date of the presidential election, in which I will not be a candidate in any instance,” he said.

The conference will be accompanied by a national referendum to rewrite the constitution. In the meantime, Algeria will be governed by an interim government to oversee the country’s day-to-day institutional function.

Raouf Farrah, of Les Jeunes Engagés and Ibtykar, an organisation to promote civil engagement, said: “For me, this is not a victory. Delaying the elections doesn’t mean they’re cancelled; it’s a tactic to maintain the status quo, at least temporarily.”

Farrah did not trust the outgoing president’s promises. “Bouteflika can still remain in power until the end of the so-called national conference, with no guarantees or a timetable. He wants to steal victory from the people by claiming to be the saviour of Algeria,” he said...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/11/algerian-president-says-he-will-not-run-again-after-weeks-of-protests