Algeria's main Islamic party to avoid assembly session

By Abdul Razzaq bin Abdullah

ALGIERS (AA) – Algeria’s Movement of Society for Peace plans to boycott a Tuesday parliament session at which Assembly Speaker Abdul Qader bin Saleh will likely be appointed interim president in line with the constitution.

In a Monday statement, the movement, which is Algeria's largest Islamic party, said its participation in Tuesday’s session -- which will come one week after the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika -- “would amount to recognizing bin Saleh as head of state contrary to the will of the [Algerian] people”.

Article 102 of Algeria’s constitution states that, in the event of the president’s resignation or death, the parliamentary speaker should assume executive authority for a 90-day period during which presidential elections can be conducted.

On Friday, demonstrations were held countrywide in which protesters demanded the departure of all Bouteflika-affiliated officials, including Prime Minister Noureddine Badawi, Constitutional Council President Tayeb Belaiz and bin Saleh.

Algerian Army Chief-of-Staff Ahmed Gaid Saleh is slated to deliver a highly-anticipated address on Monday -- or Tuesday -- in which he is expected to comment on the country’s precarious political situation.