Algeria has set Nov. 1 as a date for a referendum on a new constitution aimed at boosting democracy and giving parliament a greater role, the presidency said on Monday, after months-long protests demanding reforms.
Elected last December, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has repeatedly pledged to introduce political and economic reforms and to meet demands raised in demonstrations that toppled veteran president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April 2019.
According to a previous presidential statement, the draft constitution is related to basic rights and public freedoms, strengthening the separation and balance of powers, transparency, preventing and combating corruption, and the independent national authority for elections.
The new constitution would give the prime minister and parliament more powers to govern North African country of 45 million people, a draft released earlier this year showed.
The referendum date was announced after Tebboune’s meeting with the head of the election authority Mohamed Chorfi earlier on Monday, the presidency said in a statement.
