In a speech to the Nation on Thursday, Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced that he would proceed with a cabinet reshuffle within 48 hours. He will also dissolve Parliament and call for early elections. Finally, he decrees a pardon for several dozen detainees at Hirak, in a gesture of appeasement aimed at this popular protest movement.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced Thursday, February 18, that he was going to carry out a cabinet reshuffle within 48 hours, that he would also dissolve Parliament and call for early elections. Finally, Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced the pardon of several dozen detainees from the Hirak, an anti-regime protest movement.
“The ‘blessed Hirak’ saved Algeria. I decided to grant presidential pardon to about thirty people for whom a court decision had been handed down, as well as to others for whom no verdict has been issued. Between 55 and 60 people will join their families from tonight or tomorrow, “he said in a speech to the nation televised.
Some 70 people are currently imprisoned in Algeria in connection with the Hirak protests and / or individual freedoms, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD).
With the announced dissolution of Parliament, legislative elections, scheduled for 2022, are expected to take place by the end of the year.
A government decried
The national speech he gave on television coincided with the national day of homage to the “martyrs” of the War of Independence (1954-1962).
Returning a week ago from Germany, where he was being treated for post-Covid complications, Abdelmadjid Tebboune has since had consultations with six political parties, including opposition groups.
The Head of State, however, did not receive the two majority parties in Parliament, the National Liberation Front (FLN) and the RND (National Democratic Rally), very unpopular due to their proximity to ex-President Abdelaziz. Bouteflika and his clan.
These consultations take place in a context of tension in the regime as the second anniversary of the Hirak approaches, an unprecedented popular protest movement launched on February 22, 2019 and which forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign two months later.
On the day of his departure for Berlin, President Tebboune publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the action of Abdelaziz Djerad’s government, fueling rumors of the formation of a new government. “This reshuffle will concern sectors which record deficits in their management felt by the citizens and ourselves”, declared Thursday the Algerian president.
