10 proposals to amend the Constitution: a comprehensive presentation by the Director of the Office of the Presidency of the Republic – Al-Hiwar newspaper, Algerian newspaper

Today, Saturday, the Director of the Office of the Presidency of the Republic, Boualem Boualem, presented a presentation that included ten proposals that fall within the draft technical amendment to the constitution.

This presentation came during a symposium opened by the Prime Minister, Seifi Gharib, at the Palace of Nations, which was devoted to studying the draft technical amendment to the constitution and the organic law related to the electoral system, in the presence of the Director of the Office of the Presidency of the Republic, a number of members of the government, and heads of political parties, in addition to the acting head of the Independent National Authority for Elections.

Boualem explained that the first proposal is to include a requirement to prove an educational level in order to run for the position of President of the Republic, in addition to specifying the body before which the constitutional oath is taken and the body that undertakes its reading, while controlling the oath-taking ceremony through precise organizational arrangements.

The proposals also included enabling the President of the Republic to call for the organization of local elections in advance, and canceling the requirement to obtain the corresponding opinion of the Supreme Judicial Council in appointments to specific positions or in the annual movement of heads of judicial councils and heads of state governors, given that the President of the Republic is the head of the Supreme Judicial Council.

With regard to the National Assembly, it was proposed to extend the term of its president to six years instead of three years, with the aim of ensuring continuity of experience and avoiding the rupture that may result from the midterm renewal, while improving the organizational framework for the regular parliamentary session to allow flexibility for its opening in September and its closing after ten months.

The presentation also included a proposal to reorganize the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council, by dispensing with three categories of members, namely members chosen by the heads of the two chambers of Parliament, the union representation, and the head of the National Council for Human Rights, in exchange for including the membership of the Attorney General in the Supreme Court.

Regarding the Independent National Election Authority, to which the 2020 Constitution assigned the tasks of preparing, organizing, conducting, and supervising the electoral process, without a clear definition of its supervisory role, the project proposed expanding its supervisory powers, while assigning the task of material and logistical preparation for the electoral process to the administration.

The draft amendment also proposes the inclusion of a transitional provision that can be relied upon when needed to fill any constitutional vacuum, and provides a legal basis for the midterm renewal of members of the National Assembly elected during the first term, after three years, in order to consolidate the principle of continuity of state institutions and avoidance of rupture.

At the conclusion of the proposals, it was stipulated the inclusion of a transitional provision aimed at setting reasonable deadlines to conform the conditions of institutions and bodies whose legal system or formations have undergone a change, to ensure consistency with the new constitutional provisions.