Will Algerian Parliament Face A Constitutional Crisis?

The crisis within the National People’s Assembly is going to be complicated and nothing is on the horizon that indicates the possibility of a breakthrough, with each party adhering to its refusal to accept compromises.

An official source in the Lower House of Parliament, who met on Monday with its chairman, Said Bouhadja, told Echorouk that he wants to remain in office and he did not abide by the demands and threats that are paralyzing the work of the Council that are issued by the majority of the members of the Council, who belong to the National Liberation Front, National Democratic Rally, Popular Movement and Amal of Algeria Rally.

The same source confirmed that “Bouhadja is not fully prepared to resign today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow”, in defiance of the situation of those who have tried to isolate him, while Ould Abbas is expected to meet, here on Tuesday, with the MPs of his party, in a meeting that will be devoted to discuss the issue, which took dimensions that no one expected.

When Bouhadja insisted on staying in office the dispute began between those moved after the call of FLN’s General Secretary, Djamal Ould Abbas, to overthrow the third man in the state, as the charges erupted between the signatories to the petition, which call on Bouhadja to leave his office.

What further confused the MPs who asked for the resignation of Said Bouhadja is that the man did not leave up to last weekend, and that he is ready to resign as he stated, but he returned and retreated to stick to his position during the last two days, so what happened until the man changed his position surprisingly?

Sources from inside the lower chamber talk of accusations and counter-accusations of tampering with signatures, while some MPs threatened to go to justice because their names were between the signatories, while they did not sign at all, according to the source.

All this happens at a time when the Lower House is expected to study the Finance Bill of 2018, a project of great importance, which requires greater harmony between the majority of MPs who support the government that is embodying the president’s program.

If the iron fist continues between the MPs who are demanding the resignation of the president of the council, and their opponent who refuses to resign, the crisis will turn to the complexity, and may reach the extent of obstructing the work of the lower chamber of parliament, if Bouhadj will stuck to stay in office, because neither the Constitution nor the internal law of the Council or any other law can compel the President of the Council to submit his resignation, or to face the withdrawal of confidence by the deputies of the Lower Chamber, and here lies the dilemma.

Perhaps this is what made the President of the Council adhere to his position, and thus increase the pressure on the General Secretary of the party, who is in the range of a number of charges about his responsibility of the crisis in the lower chamber, because of the lack of appreciation for the results of what was submitted, which may reach the dissolution of Parliament as a way out of the current constitutional crisis.