ALGIERS, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 136 people have so far applied for candidacy in the presidential election planned in December, said state-run APS news agency, quoting an election official as saying on Wednesday.
"The Independent Election Monitoring Authority is working transparently and pays due attention to all complaints received from citizens," the authority's spokesman said in a press conference.
The new applicants include former prime ministers and a former culture minister.
Government spokesman Hassan Rabhi said on Wednesday that the majority of Algerians support holding a "free and transparent election."
"Opponents of the election do not serve the best interest of the country and the Algerian people," APS quoted Rabhi as saying.
In mid-September, Algeria's Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah announced holding presidential election on Dec. 12.
The law requires presidential candidates to submit at least 50,000 individual signatures of voters registered on an electoral list from at least 25 of the 48 Algerian states, and the minimum number of signatures required by each state is at least 1,200.
