Algerian Presidential Election Scheduled For December 12 - Interim President

CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2019) Algerian presidential election will be held on December 12, the country's interim president, Abdelkader Bensalah, said Sunday.

"Within the constitutional powers, it was decided to set the date for the presidential election on December 12, 2019," the president said in a televised address to the nation.

An acute political crisis and mass protests broke out in Algeria in February after then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his bid to seek the fifth term in office.

The president subsequently resigned and Bensalah took over as an interim president, but the protests continued with the demonstrators demanding that all politicians who got positions in the government step down and calling on the army to refrain from meddling in the politics. In early July, Bensalah announced a new initiative to settle the deadlock by engaging in a dialogue which would exclude members of both the government and the military.