ALGIERS: Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, newly re-elected despite suffering a stroke last year, has proposed a raft of reforms including setting a two-term presidential limit and delegating more authority to the prime minister, a government source said yesterday.
Bouteflika, 77, won last month’s election to secure his fourth five-year term, despite his opponents’ arguments that his fragile health undermined his ability to govern.
Analysts said the proposed reforms may be aimed at easing worries over a potential transition should Bouteflika become unable to finish his new term. A previous two-term limit was removed to allow him to run for a third term five years ago, when he won a landslide victory.
The government source said the 47 proposed amendments included lifting controls on the media and giving parliament more ability to question government officials.
The source said the draft was handed to political parties, which have been invited to debate the reforms in June before they go to a constitutional committee for review and then probably to a referendum for final approval.
“Invitations have been sent to partners in the process of the constitutional revision,” APS state news agency said.
APS said details of the proposals from a panel of experts would be released today, but the source said the government had dropped a previous idea of creating a vice president’s position to help Bouteflika administer his fourth term.
His ally Abdelmalek Sellal was reappointed prime minister after the election, having briefly stepped down to campaign on behalf of the president.
Politics in the OPEC state have been mostly dominated since the end of French colonial rule in 1962 by the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) and the army.
Most of its opposition leaders - including secular and Islamist rivals - have already rejected Bouteflika’s proposal they join the debate, dismissing the invitation as a move to co-opt them rather than an attempt at real reform.
“Two years ago, the regime called us to make proposals for a new constitution. They did not take into consideration any of our suggestions,” Abderazak Mokri, leader of the moderate Islamist party MSP, said this week. “This new invitation is just another way to fool the opposition.”
REUTERS
