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Algeria: retired General first candidate for 4 July presidency

Algeria: retired General first candidate for 4 July presidency April 12, 2019 at 2:22 am | Published in: Africa , Algeria , News Protesters rally to demand an end to Algerian president Bouteflika's rule on March 31, 2019 at the Place de la Republique in Paris. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP / Getty) April 12, 2019 at 2:22 am A retired Algerian General announced on Thursday his intention to run in the presidential election scheduled for 4 July, which is the first announcement to run for this electoral contest.

This came in an interview that the retired General Ali Ghadiri made with Algeria’s private channel Dzair News .

In response to a question about his participation in the presidential elections, Ali Ghadiri said: “Of course, I will run.”

He added: “My candidacy for the 18 April cancelled presidential elections is already in the Constitutional Council.”

He further stated that “the cancellation of the elections in the manner it has been done is illegal according to specialists.”

General Ghadiri, 64, retired from the army in 2015. Before that, he served as Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Defence for 15 years. He held a doctorate in Political Science and was trained at the Naval School in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, and then at the Military School in the capital Moscow.

Read: Algeria: Interim president to hold elections in 90 days

Ghadiri was the first figure who announced running for the 18 April cancelled presidential race as soon as the decree calling the electorate was issued on 18 January.

He always says that his programme is based on “rupture” with the past and the declaration of a second republic.

Following the resigned President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to cancel the presidential elections scheduled for 18 April, Ghadiri expressed his opposition to the measure and called for the re-establishment of the electoral process.

On Wednesday, Abdelkader Bensalah, the Algerian interim president, set 4 July as a date for the presidential election, which coincides with the 57th anniversary of the country’s independence in 1962.

The decision came one day after the Algerian parliament registered the vacancy of the post of President of the Republic and the President of the People’s National Assembly (the second chamber of parliament). Abdelkader Bensalah will assume the presidency for three months, by Article 102 of the constitution.

On Wednesday, Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaid Salah stressed that the military institution supports working within the framework of the Constitution and that the presidential elections would be held on time within three months.

Categories Africa Algeria News