Algeria to choose Bouteflika’s interim replacement

Algerian lawmakers are set to confirm an interim replacement for Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Tuesday after the ailing president resigned last week in the face of massive protests.

The constitution stipulates that the speaker of the upper house of parliament — currently 77-year-old Abdelkader Bensalah — take the presidential reins for the next 90 days.
But with protesters demanding an overhaul of the political system, the interim leader’s identity may not be a foregone conclusion.

On Friday — in the first weekly protest since Bouteflika announced his departure after losing the military’s support — Algerians demanded regime stalwarts be excluded from the political transition.

Three men in particular have drawn ire: Bensalah, head of the constitutional council Tayeb Belaiz and Prime minister Noureddine Bedoui.

The protest movement is calling for a new transitional framework that is committed to deep reforms and organising free elections