Algerian parliament has on Tuesday appointed Abdelkader Bensalah, upper house chairman, as interim president of the country following weeks of mass protests against the president’s long-term ruling and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s resignation.
According to Reuters news reports, protesters, demanding to sweep the democratic reforms, are opposed to figures like Bensalah, Bouteflika’s close associate as well as inner circle who dominated the country for decades.
Bouteflika has promised last week that presidential election would be held after 90 days as a part of a transition which he said would usher in the new era.
Bensalah will continue to remain as interim president of Algeria, as per the constitution of Algeria, until a new presidential election will be held.
Bensalah told reporters: “We must work to allow the Algerian people to elect their president as soon as possible.”
More than one million people on March 30 took to the streets of Algeria protesting, demanding the resignation of country’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, according to eyewitnessed police officers, in one of the biggest demonstrations since the unrest erupted six weeks ago.
According to Dawn news reports, the huge demonstration has come days after Algerian military called for Bouteflika’s removal from the presidency post which he has been holding from the last 15 years, to end the escalation of the political crisis.
The protest started peacefully but later pressurized military to stabilize the situation of the country. Protesters have said: “Street pressure will continue until the system goes.”
A protester said, “We have only one word to say today, all the gang must go immediately, game over.” Others shouted, “the people want the fall of the regime”.