Guidance

Algeria's Army Chief Invokes Constitution to Remove Bouteflika

Mar 26, 2019 | 22:24 GMT

This combination image created on March 26 shows Algerian President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika (L) during an official visit to Zeralda, a suburb of the capital Algiers on April 10, 2016, and Algeria's Chief of Staff General Ahmed Gaid Salah at the Houari-Boumediene International Airport in Algiers, on May 20, 2014. Algeria's chief of staff called today for Bouteflika to be declared unfit to govern, following weeks of mass protests demanding the ailing leader step down.

(ERIC FEFERBERG,FAROUK BATICHE/AFP/Getty Images)

On March 26, Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah, chief of staff of the Algerian People's National Army, called for the implementation of Article 102 of the constitution. This is the first step in the process to install an interim government should the president be deemed incapacitated. By invoking Article 102, the army chief is setting in motion a Constitutional Council review of ailing President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika's physical ability to govern. The reviewing body will have to make a recommendation to the Algerian parliament, and if the constitutional council determines that the president is incapacitated, both chambers of parliament must assemble to vote on subsequent steps. A two-thirds majority is required by law to remove the president....

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