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New Tumult in Algeria as Council Scraps Slated Presidential Vote

New Tumult in Algeria as Council Scraps Slated Presidential Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Algeria’s Constitutional Council on Sunday effectively scrapped a planned July 4 presidential vote, injecting new uncertainty into an already rocky political transition following the ouster of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

In a statement reported by the state-run APS news agency, the council rejected the candidacy papers submitted by the only two people to register to run in the race and said that interim President Abdelkader Bensalah must also call for a new election. Both prospective candidates were little known political figures.

The decision comes amid mounting pressure from demonstrators who have stood firm in their demands for the removal of the entire ruling regime, even after their mass protests succeeded in having Bouteflika resign a post he had held for 20 years.

Algeria Army Chief Says Serious Dialogue Needed to Bridge Crisis

Last week, with the street protests led by youth demonstrators showing no signs of abating, powerful army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah appeared to adopt a softer line . In a series of speeches, he said dialogue was the only way out of the current crisis and that the country couldn’t afford to be dragged back into the chaos of the ruinous civil war of the 1990s.

Adjourning or canceling the vote may be seen by some as a new sign of the army command’s weakness, said Cyril Widdershoven, founder and senior adviser at Dutch-based Verocy consultancy firm. “It remains to be seen if the armed forces and security will not re-emerge as the kingmakers in the coming weeks.”

--With assistance from Salah Slimani.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tarek El-Tablawy in cairo at teltablawy@bloomberg.net;Souhail Karam in Rabat at skaram10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Tarek El-Tablawy

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