Five establishment candidates running to replace Bouteflika

Despite fierce opposition from the streets, authorities have been pushing forward with presidential elections set for December 12.

ALGIERA - Five candidates, including two former prime ministers, will run to replace ousted Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the country's election authority said Saturday, amid widespread protests against the vote.

A total of 23 candidates had submitted their papers to run and five were approved, head of the election authority Mohamed Charfi told reporters in Algiers.

The list will be passed to the constitutional council for final validation.

Former premiers Ali Benflis and Abdelmadjid Tebboune are considered front-runners in an election opposed by the mass protest movement that alongside the army forced Bouteflika to resign in April after 20 years in power.

Protesters had opposed Bouteflika's planned bid for a fifth term after 20 years in power and now want to dismantle the corruption-ridden system that kept him in office and the long-standing, if often shadowy, role of the military at the top.

Bouteflika was Algeria's first civilian president since the nation's first leader after independence from France in 1962, Ahmed Ben Bella, was deposed in a coup.

The other candidates are Azzedine Mihoubi, leader of the Democratic National Rally party (RND) that was part of Bouteflika's ruling coalition, former tourism minister Abdelkader Bengrina and Abdelaziz Belaid, head of the Front El-Moustakbel party.

All are considered members of a political establishment that has been the target of protests, with the announcement coming one day after Algerians rallied for a 37th consecutive week demanding an end to Algeria's post-colonial political system.

Activists are demanding sweeping reforms in the oil-rich country before any vote takes place, and say Bouteflika-era figures still in power must not use the presidential poll to appoint his successor. Instead of waning when the ageing president stepped down, the protest movement turned its focus on the whole regime, amping up calls for an overhaul of the political system in place since 1962.

Polls planned for July 4 were postponed due to a lack of viable candidates, plunging the country into a constitutional crisis, as interim president Abdelkader Bensalah's mandate expired that month.

Despite fierce opposition from the streets, authorities have been pushing forward with presidential elections set for December 12. Observers are predicting a weak turnout.