Algerian parl't convenes to announce presidential vacancy

ALGIERS, April 9 (MENA) - Algeria’s parliament appointed on Tuesday the upper house chairman Abdelkader Bensaleh as interim president for the next 90 days following the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Arab News reported.

Under the Algerian constitution, parliament should nominate the speaker of the upper house to assume office for 90 days in case of a presidential vacuum. Bouteflika resigned on April 2.

The Algerian Council of the Nation and the People’s National Assembly met Tuesday at the Palace of the Nation to take cognizance of the Constitutional Council’s declaration ascertaining the definitive vacancy of the position of president of the Republic and trigger Article 102 of the Constitution.

Article 102 stipulates that "when the President of the Republic, because of a serious and lasting illness, is totally unable to perform his functions, the Constitutional Council shall meet de jure and, after having verified the reality of the impediment by all appropriate means, it shall propose, unanimously, to Parliament to declare the state of impediment. It shall immediately communicate the act of declaration of definitive vacancy to Parliament, which shall meet de jure."

The President of the Council of the Nation shall assume the function of the Head of State for a maximum period of 90 days, during which presidential elections shall be organized.

The Head of State, so designated, may not be a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic.