Ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika submitted his resignation with immediate effect, state media said on Tuesday, ceding power in the face of massive street protests after two decades at the helm.
Horns sounded on the streets before crowds of flag-waving people emerged from their homes and converged in the center of the capital, Algiers, to celebrate.
Bouteflika “officially advised the Constitutional Council of the end of his term of office as president of the republic,” state television reported.
“I have the honor to formally notify you of my decision to terminate my term of office as president of the republic from today, Tuesday,” state news agency APS quoted his resignation letter as saying. “This decision which I take in my soul and conscience is destined to contribute to the appeasement of the hearts and minds of my compatriots, to allow them to take Algeria toward a better future to which they legitimately aspire.”
Footage showed Bouteflika, dressed in a beige gandoura (tunic) and sitting in his wheelchair, handing his resignation letter to Algerian Constitutional Council President Tayeb Belaiz.
Long accused of clinging to power, the veteran leader faced mounting pressure to step down after his decision to seek a fifth term, despite rarely being seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013.
The 82-year-old last month said that he would pull out of the bid for another term, and on Monday his office said he would resign before his mandate expires at the end of the month.
The moves failed to satisfy protesters, who feared a ploy to extend his rule, and the head of the armed forces called for him to quit.
The US said the future of Algeria was now up to its people.
“Questions about how to navigate this transition in Algeria, that is for the Algerian people to decide,” US Department of State spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters.
French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian said Bouteflika’s decision to step down marked the turning of “an important page in the history of Algeria.”
“We are confident in the ability of all Algerians to continue this democratic transition in the same spirit of calm and responsibility” that has prevailed in recent weeks, Le Drian said in a statement.
Algeria’s constitution says that once the president resigns the speaker of the upper house of parliament, 77-year-old Abdelkader Bensalah, acts as interim leader for up to 90 days during which a presidential election must be organized.
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