Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika may resort to dissolving the People’s National Assembly, or the lower house of parliament, following the speaker’s failure to yield to pressure to resign.
Over 300 lawmakers have demanded that Speaker Saeed Bouhaja resign. Political parties and figures have also voiced calls to end the parliament crisis, especially after the speaker refused to step down.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that he would resign only when Bouteflika himself orders him to.
As it stands, the president, according to the constitution, has the authority to dissolve the parliament and launch arrangements to hold new elections.
The article does not, however, stipulate the conditions that could force him to dissolve the legislature.
Legal experts have, meanwhile, noted that given the great tensions between them, it was no longer possible for the speaker and lawmakers to work together.
This could be reason enough for Bouteflika to order the dissolution of parliament.
Parliament was dissolved by the military in 1992 to create constitutional vacuum to eliminate the results of elections that saw Islamists score a landslide victory.
The country witnessed a period of unrest following the move.
