Ahmed Ouyahia: “Political inheritance is ruled out and Algeria isn’t Egypt”

Bouncing back on Wednesday at the head of the national Democratic Rally (RND), following a plebiscite by a large majority of the members of the national Council of the party, Ahmed Ouyahia held a press conference on Thursday, June 11, at the seaside resort of Zéralda, West of Algiers to expound the ins and outs of his comeback and to shed light on myriad outstanding issues now gripping the national political scene.

Evoking recurrent national political questions, Ahmed Ouyahia took the opportunity to declare to the opposition coordination’s leadership (ISCO) that their floated idea of an early election in Algeria is utterly ruled out.

 “The head of state, Abdellaziz Bouteflika, will duly preside over the country until the end of its five-year mandate and legislative elections will take place in 2017”, he said.

Ahmed Ouyahia further lashed at the opposition Front of Socialist forces (FFS) party: saying “you push for a national consensus on what? ” We don’t agree at all with the party’s proposal for a transitional period”, he added.

Pursuing in the same vein, he explained that “the constitution of a “pro-establishment political Pole” is a convergence of efforts. “The opposition parties seem strong by our chosen silence”, he argued.

Ahmed Ouyahia, on the other hand, rejected the rumored presidential ambitions of Saïd Bouteflika to succeed his brother Abdelaziz at the helm of the country.

“I don’t think that the Algerian people are monarchist-oriented. I don’t think that the President has monarchist designs. And I don’t think that Saïd Bouteflika heads in this direction,” he affirmed.

But it must noted that way back in 2011, Ahmed Ouyahia argued that ” Algeria doesn’t need a 4th mandate” and, in the end, the same Ouyahia ended up being one of the main proponents of the incumbent president’s election campaign last year.

Furthermore, the acting Secretary General of the RND party and Director of the President’s office, asserted that the projected revision of the Algerian Constitution will be officially announced via a press release from the El Mouradia presidential Palace itself when the time is ripe.

“The revision of the Constitution will be either via the parliamentary channel, or via a popular referendum,” said Ahmed Ouyahia without suggesting any date to this effect.

For him, there is no need to speculate or guess concerning the exact date of such a constitutional revision, stressing that its official announcement falls within the sole prerogative of the President of the Republic.

Finally, Ahmed Ouyahia didn’t waver to strongly deplore the adverse politicized interpretations made by some ill-informed quarters of the letter of support sent by ANP Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaid Salah, to the FLN Party leader Amar Saidani over the success of the recently-held 10^th FLN Party Congress, while stating that he warmly hails the DRS intelligence security services and its leader General Toufik, as well as the entire People’s National Army (ANP) and all those in the country who valiantly fought against the scourge of terrorism.