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Top Algeria scholars call for ‘urgent’ resolution to crisis

June 1, 2019 at 11:55 am

Algerians carry a giant national flag as they take part in a demonstration in the capital Algiers against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on 19 March, 2019 [RYAD KRAMDI/AFP/Getty]

Algeria’s senior Islamic scholars and preachers on Thursday launched a political initiative to seek an “urgent” solution to the country’s crisis by choosing a consensus figure to lead the transitional phase.

This came in a document entitled “Call of Scholars”, signed by 16 of the most prominent Islamic scholars in Algeria, according to Anadolu Agency.

According to the document, “the situation has worsened and become more serious, which requires urgent peaceful and consensual intervention”.

The signatories pointed out that this would be achieved by “implementing articles 7 and 8 of the constitution, which make the people a source of authority”. It would then “assign the transitional phase to the person who gets the approval of the majority of people to take responsibility for leading the country towards free, fair, and credible elections”.

The signatories considered that the “consensus president shall appoint a competent government and an independent committee to organise the elections, and then pave the way for all honest figures to compete for the leadership of the country”.

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The scholars also warned young people of the popular movement against “intrusive people, infiltrators, and opportunists who want to divert this movement from the right path”.

According to the same source, the initiative praised “the military institution for its steadfastness in protecting the homeland, accompaniment of the popular movement, the maintaining of its security and safety, and the understanding of its demands and aspirations”.

Among the signatories to the document was Abdel Razzaq Gassoum, president of the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars, the country’s largest gathering of Islamic scholars.

The initiative comes in light of a political crisis in the country, after the legal deadlines for candidacy in the presidential elections scheduled for 4 July expired. This came amid the ongoing boycott of the political class and popular movement, now several months after former President Abdulaziz Bouteflika agreed to step down.

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