Algerian President Abdelkader Bensalah announced on Sunday evening that the presidential elections will be held on December 12th, saying that they will establish confidence in the country and be the gateway to a promising phase.
"The time has come for everyone to take the highest interest of the nation over all considerations, as they are the common denominator between us, because it is about the future of our country and the future of our children," Ben Saleh said in a speech to Algerians on state television.
He explained that the elections "the culmination of a dialogue that led to a consensus on the elections and guarantees to ensure their credibility," and that "the state has remained neutral" on the course of dialogue.
The Algerian interim president on Sunday formally signed the decree summoning the electorate, in line with what was called by the Army Chief of Staff earlier.
The Algerian constitution stipulates that presidential elections are held within ninety days from the date the president signed the decree calling for voters to vote.
The announcement of the presidential date came hours after the inauguration of the Higher Elections Commission under the name of the "Independent National Authority for the Organization of Elections" of fifty members, and the election of former Minister of Justice Mohammed Sharafi as its president.
"Super gift"
Earlier on Sunday, Bin Saleh received Mohammed Sharafi and his members and conveyed his affirmation of his commitment to putting all the state's capabilities to serve and succeed the committee's tasks.
For the first time in the history of the country, this committee will be in charge of organizing, supervising, examining the files of candidates and announcing the preliminary results of the polls after it was the tasks of the Ministries of Interior and Justice and the Constitutional Council.
For his part, Chairman of the Justice and Development Party (Islamic) Abdullah Jaballah said the inauguration of this committee is a hasty process "without checking the availability of the conditions stipulated in its law in some of its members."
"This authority is dedicated to the effort to trick people into one of the two options, as if there were no other option," the party spokesman said.
The Movement of Society for Peace (Islamic) Party considered this "committee as a supreme gift from the ruling regime which did not result through serious dialogue and real consensus between the latter and most of the actual opposition components, as in the successful democratic transition experiences in the world."