Bensalah pledges to organise election within three months
ALGIERS: Algerian interim President Abdelkader Bensalah said his top mission is working to overcome the current political crisis and pave way for the election of a new president within three months, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting state and private run media.
Algeria’s state run and private media broadcasted the first speech of Bensalah to the nation as he hailed both the people and the security forces who behaved responsibly and professionally during the mass protest marches across the country since Feb 22 as no big violent acts have been reported so far.
He also thanked the support of the military institution while “sticking to the Constitution as the only passage to overcome the current political crisis.”
He described the current situation as “crucial turning point in the history of Algeria,” stressing that his top mission is “guaranteeing power transition to a democratically elected president within three months in free and fair election as stipulated by the Constitution”.
“An independent and free commission for preparing the presidential election will be established soon as it is should be composed of a group of independent personalities,” he noted.
The interim president further called for “working collectively with all parties to draw up adequate laws that frame this commission, and thus set up the cornerstone of a new Algeria.” He concluded by calling Algerians to remain calm and serene ahead of choosing their new president.
Bensalah is a senior official at the second ruling party of National Democratic Rally ( RND) and Speaker of the Council of the Nation parliament).
He was named earlier on Tuesday interim president to run the transition era after the resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika,76, last week. — Bernama (upper house of