Algeria to hold presidential election this year

Algerian upper house chairman Abdelkader Bensalah is pictured after being appointed as interim president by Algeria’s parliament, following the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina

Algeria will hold a presidential election on Dec. 12, interim President Abdelkader Bensalah said in a televised speech on Sunday.

Weekly mass demonstrations forced veteran president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign in April, leaving Algeria in constitutional limbo and facing a stand off between the protesters and the army-backed government.