Algeria: Dialogue committee seeks assent on soon polls

By Abbas Maymouni

ALGIERS (AA) - A member of a recently-formed "dialogue committee" in Algeria said on Friday that the body's mission was to reach general consensus on holding presidential polls as soon as possible.

Earlier on Thursday, the Algerian interim presidency announced a six-member committee of "independent figures" formed in order to supervise sessions of political dialogue towards holding presidential polls in the country as soon as possible.

Constitutional legal expert Bouzid Lazhari told Anadolu Agency that one of the committee’s members recounted that it had met with interim President Abdelkader Bensaleh on Thursday, considering the meeting an "official inauguration of the committee".

He added that Bensaleh listened to the committee members with "great interest, especially with regard to preparatory measures demanded by Algerian protestors in order to achieve calm, which precedes going to dialogue."

Bensaleh promised to "take care of most matters" that the people have been demanding for months.

"Most salient of those matters is to release the detainees of popular protests, and to open media outlets for various political views," he said.

On the committee’s expected mission, Lazhari added that as a mediation and dialogue committee, the body would "contact all political actors, representatives of civil society and national figures to bring together visions and positions, especially with regard to the holding of presidential elections as soon as possible."

In April, Algerian opposition groups announced plans to boycott upcoming presidential polls scheduled for July 4.

In a joint statement, several leading opposition parties -- including the Development and Justice Party, Al-Nahda and Al-Benaa al-Watani -- described, at the time, the upcoming polls as “an attempt by the illegitimate authority to replicate itself through false elections"

"The holding of elections with the same legal and regulatory framework will lead to the assumption of power by the same authorities that the people are now demanding step down," the opposition statement’s read.

Parliamentary Speaker Bensaleh is now serving as head of state for a 90-day transitional period, supervised by the Algeria's military.

Since Bouteflika was ousted, hundreds of thousands of Algerians have been taking to streets across Algeria demanding the dismissal of all government officials affiliated with the previous regime -- including Bensaleh.

The military has played a decisive role in Algeria’s politics since it won independence from France almost six decades ago.