Algerian former Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune (R) submits his application for presidential election in Algiers, Algeria, on Oct. 26, 2019. A total of nine Algerian presidential candidates have submitted applications to the National Independent Authority for Elections by Saturday night, a few hours before the deadline of submitting applications, official APS news agency reported. (Xinhua)
ALGIERS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- A total of nine Algerian presidential candidates have submitted applications to the National Independent Authority for Elections by Saturday night, a few hours before the deadline of submitting applications, official APS news agency reported.
Among the nine applicants, there are several party leaders and officials, including former Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune, former Prime Minister and chairman of the Talaie El Houriyet party Ali Benflis and former Culture Minister and Secretary General of National Democratic Rally (RND) Azzedine Mihoubi.
Independent candidates are also among the applicants.
A total of 147 candidates for the presidential elections had withdrawn the subscription forms for individual signatures, APS reported.
According to Algeria's organic law on the electoral system, the midnight of Oct. 26 is the deadline for the submission of candidate files for the presidential election.
The organic law requires that presidential candidates 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.
In mid-September, Algeria's interim President Abdelkader Bensalah announced that presidential elections will be held on Dec. 12.
Algeria has been gripped by mass protests since Feb. 22, which forced former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign on April 2.
