By RFPosted on 02-11-2019Modified on 02-11-2019 at 19:32
In Algeria, the independent commission for the organization of elections has made its decision. 5 candidate files were validated out of 22 submitted last week.
They will be five in the race to be the next president after 20 years of rule of Abdelaziz Bouteflika and an unprecedented popular protest movement: Abdelaziz Belaid, Benflis Ali, Abdelkader Bengrina, Azzedine Mihoubi and Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
► To read also Presidential in Algeria: 22 officially declared candidates including Ali Benflis
These 5 men, who are between 56 and 75 years old, are not unknown. Two are at the head of small political parties that supported Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Ali Benflis was head of government during the former president's first term. Azzedine Mihoubi and Abdelmadjid Tebboune were in office during the fourth term, one as Minister of Culture, the other as Minister of Housing and then as Prime Minister.
None of the successful candidates is therefore from civil society, or is a personality who would have been noticed in the protest movement.
The files will now be forwarded to the Constitutional Council, and it is the Council that must validate the files one last time and rule on appeals within a week.
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