After President's Resignation, Algerian Officials Plot Next Steps

 

Algeria’s Constitutional Council met Wednesday to confirm the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Constitutional Council president Tayeb Belaiz opened Wednesday’s meeting of the 12-member body. He said the reason for the meeting was to establish the “vacancy¹ of the post of president of the republic.”

Bouteflika, who is 82, appeared Tuesday on national television to give his resignation letter to Belaiz. Bouteflika has not spoken publicly since he suffered a stroke in 2013. On television, he appeared very weak.

After Bouteflika’s televised resignation, protesters celebrated² with songs and waving flags in the capital city, Algiers.

Bouteflika ruled the country for 20 years and was a major member of the Arab World’s political leadership.

Bouteflika’s ally, Abdelkader Bensalah, is expected to take over as a temporary leader while the cou ntry plans presidential elections. He is the president of the upper house of parliament. He will take over for 90 days, as called for in the Algerian Constitution.

The move may anger the protesters who demanded Bouteflika’s resignation. They want to change a system they consider to be secretive and corrupt³.

Bensalah has run the upper house for the past 17 years, and has held high-ranking political positions for the past 25 years. But he has mostly stayed out of the public eye. He is known as a politician who works quietly to make compromises and solve problems.

Bensalah is also a big part of the country’s political elite⁴. Protesters worry that those involved in the political changes are too close to the elite power structure, including Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui. He has been accused of aiding in fraud during the last presidential election in 2014. He is also known for violently halting past protests.

New protests are already planned for Friday, April 5. There have been large, peaceful protests the past six Fridays. Such gatherings⁵ have surprised Algeria’s leadership.

The protesters, however, do not appear to have unifying⁶ political demands for the future. It is also not known what the military and Bouteflika’s supporters in the government will do next. Military chief of staff Ahmed Gaid Salah reportedly pushed for Bouteflika’s resignation.

Leaders from around the world are closely watching Algeria’s political crisis. Many are worried about the possibility that the crisis may interfere⁷ with gas and oil deliveries to Europe and Africa.

A Russian government spokesman warned against foreign interference in Algerian politics. Dmitry Peskov said that “we hope the…processes in that country ... will by no means affect the friendly nature of our relations.” Russia and Algeria have been economic and political allies since Soviet⁸ times.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he hoped Algeria would have a “democratic transition in the same spirit of calm and responsibility” that has marked the recent protests. France was once Algeria’s colonial ruler and is an important trading partner. French leadership was criticized early in the protest movement for appearing to support Bouteflika.

The U.S. State Department has expressed support for the peaceful protests. It says it is up to Algerians to decide what comes next.

Since fighting a violent Islamist uprising in the 1990s, Algeria has worked closely with the United States and Europe against terrorism.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in this Story

vacancy - n. a job or position that is available to be taken

stroke - n. a serious illness caused when a blood vessel⁹ in your brain suddenly breaks or is blocked

elite - n. the people who have the most wealth and status in a society

fraud - n. the crime of using dishonest methods to take something valuable from another person

transition - n. a change from one state or condition to another

spirit - n. the attitude or feeling that a person has about a particular job, activity, etc.

1 vacancy   

n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺

参考例句：

• Her going on maternity leave will create a temporary vacancy.她休产假时将会有一个临时空缺。
• The vacancy of her expression made me doubt if she was listening.她茫然的神情让我怀疑她是否在听。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

4 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

5 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

6 unifying   

使联合( unify的现在分词 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一

参考例句：

• In addition, there were certain religious bonds of a unifying kind. 此外，他们还有某种具有一种统一性质的宗教上的结合。
• There is a unifying theme, and that is the theme of information flow within biological systems. 我们可以用一个总的命题，把生物学系统内的信息流来作为这一研究主题。

7 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。