Algeria: The Presidential Election Of 4 July Officially Rescinded

It is now official: the presidential election in Algeria cannot take place on July 4. The announcement was made on Sunday, June 2, by the Constitutional Council in a press release. The Council refers to the “impossibility” of organising the elections.
The files of the two candidates for the candidacy, submitted to general surprise on last 25 May, were rejected by the Constitutional Council. The latter did not explain the reasons for this rejection.
According to the Constitutional Council, it is up to the Head of State to reconvene the electorate to organize the elections.
So, on Sunday June 2nd , the Constitutional Council ruled that it would be impossible to organize and reorganize the presidential elections on July 4, after confirming its rejection of the files of the two candidates for failing to meet the required conditions.
“The Constitutional Council met on May 26, 29 and June 1, 2019, to deliberate on candidacy files for the election of the President of the Republic, scheduled to take place on 4 July 2019, and the dismissal of the two candidacy files of its depositors with two decisions under No. 18 / / 19 of 1 June 2019 and No. 19 / S / DD / 19 of 01 June 2019 “.
“On the basis of Constitutional Council Decision No. 20 / SD / 19 of 01 June 2019, which declared that the election of the President of the Republic on July 4, 2019 could not be carried out and reorganized,” the statement added.
“The Constitution, above all, is the basic law guaranteeing individual and collective rights and freedoms, protects the principle of free choice of the people, legitimizes the exercise of power and enshrines democratic deliberation through free and fair elections,” it said.
For the first time in the history of Algeria, presidential elections are postponed twice in a row.
The Constitutional Council, in a reasoned opinion published on Sunday 2 June, declared it impossible to hold the presidential election on 4 July 2019 and referred to its holding again on a date to be specified later.
“It is up to the Head of State to reconvene the electorate and complete the electoral process until the election of the President of the Republic and the taking of the constitutional oath,” the Constitutional Council said.
Mr. Ameur Rekhila, a lawyer and former member of the Constitutional Council, stated in a statement in Echorouk that it is now up to the interim Head of State to annul the decree convening the electoral body of 9 April 2019 and to refer the matter back to the Constitutional Council to inform it that his mission as head of State ends at the beginning of July, 90 days after his appointment by the Congress of Parliament.
“The Constitutional Council to issue a fetwa to decide on the future of Abdelkader Bensalah as head of state and on the possibility of reconvening the electorate for the presidential elections. But I think Bensalah’s term will be extended for another three months,” he notes.
According to him, the Constitutional Council went beyond its prerogatives in its declaration of 2 June, referring to the need to complete the electoral process by the current head of state. “The Council should have waited until the Head of State, whose term of office ends in one month and seven days, referred the matter to it before issuing its opinion,” said Ameur Rekhila.
Convene the electorate in July 2019?
Mrs. Fatiha Benabbou, a lawyer and specialist in constitutional law, believes for her part that Abdelkader Bensalah’s mandate as interim head of state cannot be extended.
“It is true that the mission of the interim Head of State is to organize elections, but Article 102 of the Constitution is clear. His term of office shall not exceed 90 days. It is an impassable limit. From July 7, 2019, we move from article 102 of the Constitution to article 7, which deals with the sovereignty of the people and stipulates that the people are the source of all power,” she said, recalling that the Algerian Constitution is built on the republican principle.
It specifies, citing article 8 of the Constitution, that the people exercise their power through the institutions they establish, through referendums and through their elected representatives. Hence the need, according to her, to return to the election.
It considers it preferable not to convene the electorate now, but to postpone this decision until early July 2019. “I think June could be devoted to negotiations for a national dialogue through a conference open to politicians and civil society,” she explains.
What is the agenda for such a conference? “On its agenda must be the creation of an independent body for the organisation of elections. This will not be done on the basis of the Constitution but on the basis of a political consensus.
As soon as Article 7 is implemented, popular legitimacy takes over by delegating personalities and parties who will work together to create a Presidium, a Presidential Body or a State Committee to replace Bensalah and avert the constitutional vacuum as from 7 July onwards.
It is a way of responding to the demands of the people who no longer want the two “B’s” namely (Bensalah and Noureddine Bedoui, Prime Minister),” she asserted.