Algérie Presse Service (APS) – November 24, 2011
At a plenary session presided today by Mr. Abdelkader Bensalah, president of the Council of the Nation, the members of the Council of the Nation have adopted to a large majority the draft version of an organic law on elections.
The People’s National Assembly passed the same text on November 2.
The law, which includes 238 articles, is part of the political reforms announced last April 15 by the President of the Republic in his address to the nation.
Taking the floor at the close of the session, Minister of Interior Dahou Ould Kablia called passage of the law by the Parliament “a major stage in the process of deep political reforms initiated by the President of the Republic and a new milestone in the consolidation of the institutional edifice of the Republic.”
This law, he added, bears great significance because it is at the heart of reforms aimed at deepening practice of democracy by enshrining transparence and rules of free and honest choice by the people and by building the guarantees required to increase citizens’ trust in elected institutions and elected officials.”
The members of the People’s National Assembly (PNA) had voted in support of nullifying Article 67 from the initial draft, which provided for impeachment of any elected official who would in the course of his/her term switch to a party other than the party which elected him/her to the People’s National Assembly, the Council of the Nation, a People’s Communal Assembly, or a People’s Wilaya Assembly.
The members of the PNA have also voted in support of nullifying a provision within Article 93, which stipulated that “When a candidate is a member of the Government, he/she must submit his/her resignation three (3) months prior to the day of the vote.”
The provisions included in the new organic law on elections call for supervision of elections, safekeeping of ballot papers, use of transparent ballot boxes, protection of fixed and itinerant polling stations, and use of indelible ink (one fingerprint shall be equal to one vote.)
The organic law on elections also authorizes any voters not in possession of a voter’s registration card to exercise their right to vote, provided they are registered on the electoral list.
The text also provides for establishing a national commission for election supervision exclusively composed of magistrates designated by the President of the Republic. The commission will be installed on the occasion of every election to ensure the transparence of all electoral operations.
The organic law also provides for creating a national commission in charge of election monitoring whose permanent secretariat shall include national competences, representatives of political parties taking part in the elections and representatives of independent candidates.
With regards to the presidential election, the law provides for reducing the number of required signatures from 75,000 to 60,000 and prohibits use of places of worship, institutions, administrations, and educational and vocational establishments for collection of signatures.
The law also provides for extending the period of convening the electorate from two to three months to enable legalization of the signature collection campaign, which shall begin one month prior to convening the electorate.
The law also includes provisions relating to the increase of number of elected officials within People’s Communal Assemblies as well as prohibition of use of any foreign languages in electoral campaign, which would expose violators to penalties ranging from 200,000 to 400,000 Algerian Dinars and prohibition from seeking office for a period of at least three years.
The electoral law was among various pieces of draft legislation subject to enrichment and proposals by the consultative body on political reforms chaired last May and June by Mr. Abdelkader Bensalah, President of the Council of the Nation.
