ALGIERS, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- As many as 22 potential candidates have shown their will to run for the presidential election on Dec. 12 in Algeria, the Independent Election Monitoring Authority said Saturday.
The official APS news agency quoted the spokesman of the authority Ali Draa as saying that the list includes some party leaders and ordinary citizens.
He specified that the former prime minister is among the potential candidates.
The new organic law on the electoral system requires presidential candidates to present at least 50,000 signatures of eligible voters. These signatures must be collected through at least 25 provinces.
Algerian interim President Abdelkader Bensalah on Sunday announced that the presidential election is set for Dec. 12.
Bensalah said he had approved the Organic Law on the Independent Election Monitoring Authority and the Organic Law on the Electoral System, "... to guarantee fair and free polls."
Despite these reassurances, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in major cities on Friday.
Algeria has been rocked by wide scale protest movement since Feb. 22, forcing former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign on April 2.
The protesters take to streets every Friday to claim radical change and demand the establishment of the rule of law. Enditem
