Ali Benflis: “ANP Army Is An exception In Institutional Disorganization”

The leader of the Vanguard of Freedoms’ Party Ali Benflis, has stated that the ANP military establishment is the only exception in what he described as “the state of institutional chaos in Algeria”.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera TV Channel, Mr. Ali Benflis pointed to what he termed as “the political obstruction, institutional disintegration and the state of disruptions experienced by the political institutions of the country. 

In this somber political scene, there is only the ANP military institution which has been duly performing its constitutional duties and protecting the national state,” he noted.

The former prime minister stressed that “if the goal is meant to really get out of this political logjam and put an end to this institutional disintegration, there is no other choice but to enable the Algerian people to choose the next president of the country himself, without the confiscation of his will and his governance”, as he put it.

On the other hand, the head of the Vanguard of Freedoms’ Party announced an imminent return to the consultations between the authorities and the opposition on the ongoing political status quo in the country.

“In my opinion, the National Opposition is called upon – at this stage and before any other move – to unify its reading of these political messages and then unify its response to them, as there are, he said,  projected consultations to be launched any time soon between the two sides in both directions”.

Ali Benflis did not however give further details on the date of the planned consultations and which parties will be called upon to participate, as the two opposition blocs, the Coordination of Freedoms and the Consultation movement, were embroiled in major divergences among their designated members before the May 4th 2017 legislative elections.