Jurists: “No constitutional or legal loophole allowing for postponement of electorate convening”

A majority of Algerian jurists and legal experts have agreed to assert that there is no constitutional or legal loophole for the current authorities to put off the convening of the electorate after Friday 17th January 2014 as part of the next Presidential elections slated for mid – April 2014.

They also affirmed that there was no legal gap for the authorities concerned to adjourn the next presidential polls until a date not beyond the 19^th of next April in consistence with the relevant provisions of the constitution.

They further recalled that the last deadline for the electorate convening was set for January 19^th 2014 in so much as the President of the Republic, Abdellaziz Bouteflika, took the oath of office to come officially to office for the current 5 – year mandate on April 19^th 2009.

Algerian jurist Aït Larbi said to this effect that such a time-frame should be abided by on all accounts stressing that the summoning of the electorate should occur 90 days before the election as clearly stipulated by the Algerian electoral code.