Algiers [Algeria]: Bowing down to public anger, embattled Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will step down as the head of the state later this week, say reports.
This comes a day after Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah reiterated his call for the application of a provision in the Algerian Constitution that could remove the president on account of his failing health.
“We must adopt a solution that helps us out of this crisis … a solution that respects and adheres to the Constitution so that it’s a suitable one for all sides,” Al Jazeera quoted Salah who is also the Deputy Defence Minister as saying.
Algeria has been witnessing protests since February against the President following his announcement that he will be contesting for a fifth term. Bouteflika, a stroke survivor, later gave in to protesters demands and abandoned his re-election bid but also delayed the presidential election indefinitely and said that he will only step down after a new Constitution is passed.
Critics have asserted that the delay in the upcoming elections is a ploy by Bouteflika to further extend his 20-year-rule.
Under Article 102 of the Algerian Constitution, the Constitutional Council could ask Parliament to declare a President to be unfit to rule the country if he or she is unable to fully exercise his functions due to ill-health.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]