Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has set legislative elections to be held on June 12, his office said on Thursday, reported Reuters.
The early election is part of Tebboune’s promised political reforms that were announced after mass protests that forced his predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign in 2019 after being in power for 20 long years.
Elected in December 2019, Tebboune has vowed to implement political and economic changes to put an end to the protest movement which demanded the departure of the whole ruling elite.
The legislative elections were previously scheduled for 2022, but the Algerian president dissolved parliament last month and called for polls to be held before the end of the year as part of reforms. They will be followed by local elections for mayors and town councilors. He also released 59 detainees of the Hirak protest movement.
According to a statement issued by the presidency, the upcoming election of the lower house of the national assembly would be held on the basis of a new electoral law, which Tebboune also ratified on Thursday.
Last month, the Algerian president had pledged to conduct an election that would be free of corruption and would open the doors of parliament to young people, adding that they must have political weight. His remarks came on the eve of the second anniversary since the Hirak protests began.
The mass protests, which were stopped due to a coronavirus lockdown imposed by the government in March 2020, resumed again three weeks ago. The demonstrators are still demanding a complete overhaul of the ruling system in place since Algeria’s independence from France in 1962, and an end to the military’s domination of the North African country.
In November 2020, Algerians voted for amendments to the constitution giving more powers to the prime minister and parliament, despite low voter turnout.
