Pascal Arogorn Ibe
Algeria’ s president Friday signed the country’ s new constitution into law , his office said , after the document was approved in a November referendum on record low turnout as its leader received treatment abroad for Covid- 19.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune , who returned to Algeria this week after two months in Germany, had promoted the new constitution as the “ cornerstone of the new Algeria” , as he sought to turn the page on the long -running Hirak mass protest movement.
But the document received the backing of less than 15 percent of the electorate , in a November vote overshadowed by the novel coronavirus pandemic and following Hirak calls for a boycott.
The Hirak first launched vast street demonstrations in early 2019 to oppose then – president Abdelaziz Bouteflika ’ s bid for a fifth term in office .
Following his resignation that April, the Hirak kept up the pressure to demand a full overhaul of the ruling system in place since the North African country’ s 1962 independence from France .
The new constitution was pitched as responding to the demands of the Hirak , but keeps in place Algeria’ s presidential regime and expands the powers of the army , a central pillar of the state.
Tebboune , 75, on Thursday approved Algeria’ s 2021 budget and is hoping to launch a vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus , using the Sputnik V jab produced by its Russian ally , as early as this month.
( AFP
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