FLN and RND compete on leading government in the new constitution

Secretary-General of RND, Abdelkader Ben Saleh, handed over on Saturday the proposals of his party on the “Draft of Azzouz Kerdoune” to the Director of Cabinet at the of Head of Republic, Ahmed Ouyahia, who is in charge of the management of consultations on amending the constitution, a date which was delayed due to the sudden visit that led the Egyptian President, Abdelfattah al-Sissi, to Algeria last Wednesday. 

Abdelkader Bensaleh explained in a statement to the press after being received by Ouyahia, that his party is pushing for the establishment of a semi-presidential system in the coming constitutional amendment, symbiotically with the other competitor FLN, which indicates that the decision-makers decided the exclusion of the parliamentary system that is demanded by a wide range of political parties and national figures of the opposition. 

However, the two rivals disagreed on the mechanism of choosing the head of the executive branch, while FLN aims to include an article in the future constitution that imposed on the President of the Republic to choose the Prime Minister from the party that won a majority in the legislative elections, RND insisted on the proposals that were submitted to Ouyahia, using mystery in this case, as this transpired from the words of Bensaleh who said that his party would prefer to choose the Prime Minister from political parties, which won the majority in the chambers of parliament, headed by the executive branch. 

It is clear from the words of the President of the National Assembly that RND is working to prevent restricting the President of the Republic using any article in the Constitution, that forced him to choose the prime minister from the party that won the parliamentary majority, so to keep on the possible return to his party to lead the executive branch, even if it did not win the majority, as was the case earlier, as Ahmed Ouyahia led the Palace of Dr Saadani for many years, and his party did not have a parliamentary majority, a scene that was repeated more than once, during the reign of FLN’s former Secretary-General, Ali Benflis, and his successor, Abdelaziz Belkhadem. 

Current Secretary General of FLN stressed in his speech to the Central Committee members at its last session, and before that in more than one occasion, that he will “fight” for the return of his party to lead the executive branch in the next constitutional amendment, and committed to achieving this in front of the Central Committee members. 

In a related context, Bensaleh spoke about enhancing human rights and protecting the fundamental freedoms and strengthening the supervisory role of the Parliament and activating its role in the legislative initiative, and replacing the Constitutional Council with a constitutional court, that ensures the adherence to the Constitution and the separation of notifications relating to compliance and control of the constitutional and to elect the President, then decide in the conflict of jurisdiction between the government and the legislative body, and strengthening the independence of justice.