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The ally in the ruling party coalition in Algeria called on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign, exerting pressure on the troubled leader after the army chief demanded that he be declared unfit Tuesday, in order to defuse the mbad demonstrations.
This comes as Algerians await a decision from the country's constitutional council on whether Bouteflika is actually unable to perform his presidential duties.
In a statement signed by the leader of the National Rally for Democracy, recently dismissed Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said his party "recommends the resignation of the president … in order to smooth the transition period".
Algeria has witnessed mbad demonstrations for weeks demanding Bouteflika's resignation since he announced that he was standing for a fifth term with the support of his National Liberation Front and the RND.
Ouyahia is a longtime supporter of Bouteflika and has been his prime minister three times since 2003 before being sacrificed on March 11 in an effort to calm the intensification of street protests.
Twenty years in power
Bouteflika, 82, has been in power since 1999, but was weakened by a stroke in 2013 that affected his mobility and speech. He spent long periods of care in hospitals in Europe and daily affairs were largely left to power brokers in his entourage.
The prospect of governing for another five years an impotent president sparked mbad protests on February 22, which intensified each week.
The announcement by the president on March 11 that he was withdrawing his candidacy and would be acting, but that new elections held under a new constitution would fail to appease public anger .
Unfit to govern
On Tuesday, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Ahmed Gaid Salah, appointed by Bouteflika in 2004, said the president should resign or be declared medically incapable of governing by Parliament, using his constitutional powers .
Addressing the officers in a broadcast, Salah said that the solution to the biggest
Political crisis since the army canceled the elections in 1992 would be the exit of the president for health reasons.
For years, rumors have been circulating about Bouteflika's potential successors, but no credible candidate has emerged with the support of the military, political establishment and security that is not at least 70 years old.
Interim Administration?
The next formal step is for the Constitutional Council to formally decide on Bouteflika's ability to perform his duties. The body did not say when it could make its decision. Any decision declaring that he is not fit to govern should be ratified by the lower house and the upper house of Parliament by a two-thirds majority.
On the basis of Article 102 of the constitution, the Speaker of the Upper House of Parliament, Abdelkader Bensalah, will serve as Acting President for at least 45 days in a nation of over 40 million. inhabitants.
The last time the army intervened during a crisis, it was in 1992, when the generals canceled an election that the Islamists were about to win.
This action triggered a civil war that killed about 200,000 people.
The army remains very sensitive to any sign of instability and Salah warned that it would not allow the demonstrations to lead to chaos.
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