The interim president of Algeria, Abdelkader Bensalah, has announced that presidential elections will be held in the country on the 12th of December this year.
He made the announcement in a televised address to the nation on Sunday, the 15th of September. This comes after the Army Chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah made the call for elections to be announced in the middle of September.
How Did We Get Here?
What initially began as an expression of displeasure against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s attempt to seek a fifth mandate, quickly descended into aggressive street rallies demanding for his resignation.
Upon his resignation in April, Abdelkader Bensalah, the leader of Algeria’s upper parliamentary chamber at the time, was chosen to serve as the interim president. This, however, did little to quell the protesters who wanted anyone associated with Bouteflika’s regime gone and an overhaul of the government.
Despite the government’s attempt to calm demonstrators by initiating anti-corruption investigations against Bouteflika allies, the protests have continued and are now in their 30th week. The police have also increasingly come down on protesters, arresting indiscriminately, leading protesters to add their release to their list of demands.
Cancelled Election
This is not the first time the interim President has announced an election date. One of his first acts upon becoming the interim leader was to set presidential elections for July 24th. However, this was reportedly scrapped due to a lack of viable candidates.
Will This End The Crisis?
Bensalah announced the elections as the answer to protester demands and an end to the crisis. During his address, he said: “Elections are the only democratic solution to the crisis.”
However, if history repeats itself, then the announcement of an election date will not automatically bring an end to the demonstrations.
In the list of demands presented by protesters in the country is the release of detained protesters and removal of Bouteflika’s old allies, a group of people that includes interim President Bensalah and Army Chief Gaid Salah.
The latter does not appear to be happening any time soon as the Army Chief reportedly stated that due to time constraints, a “total and deep overhaul” would not be possible.
Analysts now wait for the response of the people to see whether election campaigns will replace Friday demonstrations or not.
