Bouteflika’s vacation paralyzes 14 draft laws

Algeria’s Parliament will open its autumn session on Monday amid large debate between deputies about draft laws which have been suspended since the previous session.

The Complementary Financial Law will not be promulgated upon a presidential ordinance but it will be passed as an ordinary law.

According to a release issued by the People’s National Assembly on Wednesday, Parliament’s speaker Mohamed Larbi Ould Khelifa will hold a meeting to fix the autumn session agenda which remains unclear due to frozen draft laws.

Sources said a telecommunication draft law was presented by minister Moussa Benhemadi in the last session and remains suspended without final approbation while a draft law on lawyers was presented to the Council of the Nation.

This comes as a supposed cabinet meeting is still unclear as Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is supposed to hold it on Saturday or Sunday. This would have a direct impact on the Complementary Financial Law and its economic and social measures announced by Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal on visits to provinces.

Observers raise questions about the session opening feasibility as there are just a few laws to be passed and the impact of the president’s absence due to health troubles on the State’s institution.