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- Government
-
- Long-form name: Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria.
-
- Type: republic.
-
- Capital: Algiers.
-
- Administrative divisions: 31 provinces (wilayat, singular--wilaya);
- Adrar, Alger, Annaba, Batna, Bechar, Bejaia, Biskra, Blida,
- Bouira, Constantine, Djelfa, El Asnam, Guelma, Jijel, Laghouat,
- Mascara, Medea, Mostaganem, M'sila, Oran, Ouargla, Oum el
- Bouaghi, Saida, Setif, Sidi Bel Abbes, Skikda, Tamanrasset,
- Tebessa, Tiaret, Tizi Ouzou, Tlemcen; note--there may now
- be 48 provinces with El Asnam abolished, and the addition
- of 18 new provinces named Ain Delfa, Ain Temouchent, Bordjbou,
- Boumerdes, Chlef, El Bayadh, El Oued, El Tarf, Illizi, Jijel,
- Khenchela, Mila, Naama, Relizane, Souk Ahras, Tindouf, Tipaza,
- Tissemsilt.
-
- Independence: 5 July 1962 (from France).
-
- Constitution: 19 November 1976, effective 22 November 1976.
-
- 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.
-
- National holiday: Anniversary of the Revolution, 1 November
- (1954).
-
- Executive branch: president, prime minister, Council of
- Ministers (cabinet).
-
- Legislative branch: unicameral National People's Assembly
- (Assemblee Nationale Populaire).
-
- Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Cour Supreme).
-
- Leaders:
-
- Chief of State--President Chadli BENDJEDID (since
- 7 February 1979);
-
- Head of Government--Prime Minister Mouloud HAMROUCHE (since
- 9 September 1989).
-
- Political parties and leaders: National Liberation Front
- (FLN), Col. Chadli Bendjedid, chairman; Abdelhamid Mehri,
- secretary general; the government established a multiparty
- system in September 1989 and as of 1 February 1990 19 legal
- parties existed.
-
- Suffrage: universal at age 18.
-
- Elections:
-
- President--last held on 22 December 1988 (next
- to be held December 1993); results--President Bendjedid
- was reelected without opposition;
-
- People's National Assembly--last held on 26 February 1987
- (next to be held by February 1992); results--FLN was the
- only party; seats--(281 total) FLN 281; note--the government
- has promised to hold multiparty elections (municipal and
- wilaya) in June 1990, the first in Algerian history.
-
- Communists: 400 (est.); Communist party banned 1962.
-
- Member of: AfDB, AIOEC, Arab League, ASSIMER, CCC, FAO,
- G-77, GATT (de facto), IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Islamic
- Development Bank, IFAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, ILZSG,
- INTERPOL, IOOC, ITU, NAM, OAPEC, OAU, OIC, OPEC, UN, UNESCO,
- UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO.
-
- Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Abderrahmane BENSID;
- Chancery at 2118 Kalorama Road NW, Washington DC 20008;
- telephone (202) 328-5300; US--Ambassador Christopher W.
- S. ROSS; Embassy at 4 Chemin Cheich Bachir Brahimi, Algiers
- (mailing address is B. P. Box 549, Alger-Gare, 16000 Algiers);
- telephone [213] (2) 601-425 or 255, 186; there is a US Consulate
- in Oran.
-
- Flag: two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and
- white with a red five-pointed star within a red crescent;
- the crescent, star, and color green are traditional symbols
- of Islam (the state religion).
-