Algerian lawmakers on Tuesday appointed a regime stalwart as interim president, dismaying protesters seeking sweeping change after the resignation of former Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who ruled the country for two decades.
The selection of President of the Council of the Nation Abdelkader Bensalah, 77, as Algeria’s first new president in 20 years followed constitutional rules, but went against the demands of demonstrators pushing for him and other top politicians to stand down.
The upper house speaker, a trusted ally of Bouteflika, later pledged to organize a “transparent” presidential election within 90 days, as laid out by the constitution.
Photo: Reuters
“We — citizens, the political class and state institutions — must work to ensure that the conditions, all conditions, are right for a transparent and regular presidential poll,” Bensalah said in a televised address.
Opposition parties refused to back the appointment of the establishment insider and boycotted the session, as thousands of students protested against him in Algiers.
“They haven’t heard us. We will continue to march,” they shouted, clutching handwritten placards and Algerian flags.
For the first time in seven weeks, police in the capital fired tear gas to try to disperse the protest by students, who were also hit with water cannons.
“Peaceful, peaceful,” they chanted, raising their arms in the air as they were surrounded by police.
The students were echoing calls made on Friday last week — in the first weekly mass protest since Bouteflika announced his departure after losing the military’s support — when Algerians demanded regime insiders be excluded from the political transition.
“Bensalah, Bouteflika, it’s the same thing,” said 20-year-old Roumaissa, an Algerian flag draped around her shoulders during Tuesday’s student protest.
Ahead of Bensalah’s appointment, an editorial in the pro-government daily El Moudjahid suggested that he should step aside from the presidential post.
He is “not tolerated by the citizen movement, which demands his immediate departure,” or by the opposition and various political groups in both houses of parliament, the newspaper said.
Three men in particular have drawn demonstrators’ ire: Bensalah, Algerian Constitutional Council President Tayeb Belaiz and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui.
The protest movement is calling for a new transitional framework that is committed to deep reforms and organizing free elections.
Human Rights Watch said that Bouteflika’s departure is “at most a first step in ending autocratic rule.”
“During any transitional phase, authorities should fully respect the rights of Algerians to speak, assemble and associate with one another,” the watchdog said in a statement.
Algerians of all ages have rallied since late February against Bouteflika, who resigned a week ago after efforts to appease demonstrators proved fruitless.
Facing endemic unemployment, young Algerians hope that the protest movement can ultimately improve their prospects.
“It must change. Today, young people in Algeria are without a future,” said Yassine, a 21-year-old studying construction technology.
Although Bouteflika’s resignation was celebrated by demonstrators, they have remained firm in pushing for a wider overhaul of the political system.
The country’s youth are “the wealth of Algeria,” physics teacher Rabea said. “It’s them who will make the future of the country, they must be listened to.”
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