The elections for the renewal of half of the senators of the Council of Nation (Upper House) will be held on Saturday, under the provisions of the Constitution and the presidential decree convening the electoral college signed last December 22 by the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
The organic law on the election system stipulates that the electoral college is convened by a presidential decree forty-five (45) days before the date of the election.
It provides that “any member of a People’s Communal of Provincial Assembly, meeting the legal requirements, may stand for election to the Council of the Nation” and that “the candidate to the Council of the Nation membership must be aged over thirty-five (35) years old on the day of the election and have completed a full term as an elected official in a People’s Communal or Provincial Assembly.
According to the same law, the filing by the candidate of a declaration form at a provincial delegation of the National Independent Authority for Elections (ANIE), provided by ANIE in duplicate and “duly completed and signed by the candidate”, is considered as a declaration of candidacy.
For candidates running under the aegis of a political party, the declaration of candidacy must be accompanied by “the certificate of sponsorship duly signed by the party leader.”
The declaration of candidacy “must be filed, at the latest, twenty (20) days before the election date.”
The ANIE provincial delegation decides on the validity of the candidacies and “may reject, by reasoned decision, any candidacy that does not meet the conditions provided for by this organic law.”
The decision of rejection must be notified to the candidate within two (2) clear days, from the date of filing of the declaration of candidacy, says the text.
Four hundred seventy-five (475) candidates representing 22 political parties and independent lists run in the election for the partial renewal of the Council of the Nation (Upper House) to be held on Saturday, said Wednesday the Chairman of the National Independent Authority for Elections (ANIE), Mohamed Charfi in an interview with APS.
