Algeria: Army Chief Wants to Declare Bouteflika Unfit For Office

By Staff, Agencies

Algeria’s Army Chief Gen. Ahmad Gaid Salah said Tuesday he wanted to trigger the constitutional process that would declare President Abdelaziz Bouteflika unfit for office, after more than a month of mass protests against the ailing leader’s long rule.

Gaid Salah is one of the country’s top power brokers, so his announcement could pave the way for Bouteflika’s ouster after 20 years in power - or lead to a showdown with the president’s closest protectors.

The 82-year-old Bouteflika has rarely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke.

Algerian lawyer and protest leader Mustapha Bouchachi rejected the army’s move, saying the people wanted a national government of consensus, the Huffpost Maghreb said.

“The Algerian people don’t accept that the government, or a symbol of power of this system, manages the transition period,” Bouchachi said.

Gaid Salah said in remarks carried on Algerian television that “the only guarantee for political stability” is to apply the article of the Algerian Constitution that empowers the Constitutional Council to determine if the president is too ill to fully exercise his functions and to ask lawmakers to declare him unfit.

If the request receives two-thirds majority approval in Parliament, the Senate president takes charge of the government until a presidential election can be held, according to the constitutional procedure.

Some protesters have called for the application of Article 102 during massive demonstrations that have been held in Algeria every Friday since Feb. 22.

They accuse Bouteflika and his entourage of corruption, hoarding the gas-rich country’s wealth and being out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Algerians, especially struggling youth.