Constitutional Council: Office for the reception of candidates shifted to ground floor

The leader of the Algerian National Front, Moussa Touati, went on Monday to the premises of the constitutional council in upper Algiers where he submitted his candidacy file for the upcoming presidential elections slated for April 17th 2014 in Algeria.

After being greeted at the entrance of the building by the Director General of the center for constitutional studies and research, Mohamed Bouseltane, Mr Moussa Touati was then received by the chairman of the constitutional council, Mourad Medelci himself.

Unusually, the encounter took place in an office located at the ground floor instead of the traditional office situated in the upper floors when the candidates for previous elections used to be received for their files’ submission in this official building.

Moussa Touati was told by Mourad Medelci that the ground floor office was supposedly larger and could host numerous media representatives but Touati inwardly understood that the ground floor office was finally chosen mostly for ailing candidate, Abdellaziz Bouteflika, to spare him climbing to the upper floors to submit his candidacy file personally at the constitutional council by virtue of the electoral law.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Moussa Touati said that his submitted candidacy file was in keeping with all the legal provisions and procedures as he had succeeded in collecting about 750 local officials’ registration forms out of 1500 from 25 provinces of the country , thus allowing him to vie as a candidate for April 17 presidential polls.

Moussa Touati expressed the hope that the next presidential elections would be fair and honest devoid of any ballot-rigging, stressing that his election bid was mostly designed as he put it “to shatter the current pervasive Oligarchy which now holds sway in every sector of activity in Algeria”.