Algeria’s Opposition Parties Reject Holding Early Legislative Elections

Algerian security services again accused of torturing a movement activist (AFP)
Algerian security services again accused of torturing a movement activist (AFP)
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Algeria’s Opposition Parties Reject Holding Early Legislative Elections

Algerian security services again accused of torturing a movement activist (AFP)
Algerian security services again accused of torturing a movement activist (AFP)

Algerian opposition parties have rejected President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s decision to simultaneously hold parliamentary and municipal elections, planned for June.

According to observers, Tebboune’s decision to dissolve the parliament and municipal councils to hold early elections is neither stipulated by the constitution nor the electoral law.

Earlier, the President announced his plan to dissolve the National Popular Assembly and call for elections in late February.

In an interview with two newspapers broadcast on public television, Tebboune affirmed that upon the request of several parties, the legislative and local elections will take place on the same day.

He also urged opposition parties to take part in the elections and oversee the expected electoral process.

The upcoming elections have nothing to do with the past, he affirmed, noting that the electoral law encourages qualified figures and elites to run and be part of the decision-making bodies.

“The next parliament may include a majority of the opposition,” he told the newspapers.

Six parties have already announced their participation in the expected early parliamentary elections. Namely, the Movement for the Society of Peace, the Islamic National Building Movement (Harakat al-Bina al-Watani), the liberal New Generation(Jil Jadid) party, the national Future Front (Jabhat El Moustakbel), the National Liberation Front and the Democratic National Rally party (RND).

Other parties, however, most notably the Labor Party and the Rally for Culture and Democracy, have expressed reservations about this step.

Meanwhile, an Algerian activist, who is the second this month, claimed that he was tortured during his detention at the Internal Security headquarters.

Lawyer Abdullah Haboul, who heads the advocate team of activist Sami Dernouni, said on Tuesday that his client was ill treated during investigation.

Lawyer Ali Farah, for his part, who is a member of Dernouni’s advocate team, said the activist told the judge that he was electrically shocked and undressed by the security forces.

He affirmed that he was beaten and deprived of his right to request medical examination during his jail time, contrary to what is stipulated in the Criminal Procedures Law.

No comments were made by the Defense Ministry, to which the Internal Security Agency is affiliated, nor the Justice Ministry, which has the right to monitor the general situation in civilian and military prisons.



Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
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Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)

Scores of US-backed Kurdish fighters left two neighborhoods in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo Friday as part of a deal with the central government in Damascus, which is expanding its authority in the country.

The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh, which had been under the control of Kurdish fighters in Aleppo over the past decade.

The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month between Syria’s interim government and the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. The deal could eventually lead to the merger of the main US-backed force in Syria into the Syrian army.

The withdrawal of fighters from the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) came a day after dozens of prisoners from both sides were freed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces were deployed along the road that SDF fighters will use to move between Aleppo and areas east of the Euphrates River, where the Kurdish-led force controls nearly a quarter of Syria.

Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh had been under SDF control since 2015 and remained so even when forces of ousted President Bashar al-Assad captured Aleppo in late 2016. The two neighborhoods remained under SDF control when forces loyal to current interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa captured the city in November, and days later captured the capital, Damascus, removing Assad from power.

After being marginalized for decades under the rule of the Assad family rule, the deal signed last month promises Syria’s Kurds “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.

Kurds made up 10% of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Kurdish leaders say they don’t want full autonomy with their own government and parliament. They want decentralization and room to run their day-to day-affairs.