National holiday:
Revolution Day, 1 November (1954)
Constitution:
8 September 1963; revised 19 November 1976, effective 22 November
1976; revised 3 November 1988, 23 February 1989, and 28 November 1996
Legal system:
socialist, based on French and Islamic law; judicial review of
legislative acts in ad hoc Constitutional Council composed of
various public officials, including several Supreme Court justices;
has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA (since 28 April 1999)
head of government: Prime Minister Abdelaziz BELKHADEM
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term
(eligible for a second term); election last held 8 April 2004 (next
to be held in April 2009); prime minister appointed by the president
election results: Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA reelected president for
second term; percent of vote - Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA 85%, Ali BENFLIS
6.4%, Abdellah DJABALLAH 5%
Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament consisting of the National People's Assembly
or Al-Majlis Ech-Chaabi Al-Watani (389 seats - formerly 380 seats;
members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and the
Council of Nations (Senate) (144 seats; one-third of the members
appointed by the president, two-thirds elected by indirect vote;
members serve six-year terms; the constitution requires half the
council to be renewed every three years)
elections: National People's Assembly - last held 30 May 2002 (next
to be held in 2007); Council of Nations (Senate) - last held 30
December 2003 (next to be held in 2006)
election results: National People's Assembly - percent of vote by
party - NA; seats by party - FLN 199, RND 47, Islah 43, MSP 38, PT
21, FNA 8, EnNahda 1, PRA 1, MEN 1, independents 30; Council of
Nations - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party NA
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court
Political parties and leaders:
Algerian National Front or FNA [Moussa TOUATI]; National Democratic
Rally (Rassemblement National Democratique) or RND [Ahmed OUYAHIA,
secretary general]; Islamic Salvation Front or FIS (outlawed April
1992) [Ali BELHADJ, Dr. Abassi MADANI, Rabeh KEBIR]; National
Entente Movement or MEN [Ali BOUKHAZNA]; National Liberation Front
or FLN [Abdelaziz BELKHADEM, secretary general]; National Reform
Movement or Islah (formerly MRN) [Abdellah DJABALLAH]; National
Renewal Party or PRA [Yacine TERKMANE]; Progressive Republican Party
[Khadir DRISS]; Rally for Culture and Democracy or RCD [Said SADI];
Renaissance Movement or EnNahda Movement [Fatah RABEI]; Socialist
Forces Front or FFS [Hocine Ait AHMED, secretary general]; Social
Liberal Party or PSL [Ahmed KHELIL]; Society of Peace Movement or
MSP [Boudjerra SOLTANI]; Workers Party or PT [Louisa HANOUN]
note: a law banning political parties based on religion was enacted
in March 1997
Political pressure groups and leaders:
The Algerian Human Rights League or LADH or LADDH [Yahia Ali
ABDENOUR]; SOS Disparus [Nacera DUTOUR]; Somoud [Ali MERABET]
International organization participation:
ABEDA, AfDB, AFESD, AMF, AMU, AU, BIS, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA,
IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, LAS,
MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OAPEC, OAS (observer), OIC, ONUB, OPCW, OPEC, OSCE
(partner), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UPU, WCO, WHO,
WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO (observer)