Presidential elections were held in Algeria on 12 December 2019. The election had originally been scheduled for 18 April, but was postponed due to sustained weekly protests against plans by the incumbent president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a fifth term. Bouteflika resigned on 2 April and Abdelkader Bensalah was elected acting president by parliament a week later. On 10 April the election was rescheduled for 4 July. On 2 June the Constitutional Council postponed the elections again, citing a lack of candidates. A new electoral authority, Autorité nationale indépendante des élections (ANIE), was created in mid-September as an alternative to the existing (HIISE) defined by the 2016 constitution. The election was rescheduled for 12 December 2019 and ANIE, of disputed constitutional validity, announced five valid candidates on 2 November. In their strong protest on 1 November, Algerian protestors rejected the 12 December election and called for a radical change in the system to take place first. The Forces of the Democratic Alternative (FDA) alliance and the Justice and Development Front also called for boycotting the 12 December election, and the FDA called for creating a constituent assembly. Electoral system The President of Algeria is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round will be held. Electoral bodies The Algerian Constitution of 2016 created the (HIISE) to have overall responsibility for organising elections. For the third attempt to organise the 2019 presidential election, the Algerian lower and upper houses of parliament created the Independent National Elections Authority (ANIE). Lawyer Faïz Moussi and constitutional expert Ahmed Betatache described the procedures for creating ANIE as rushed and unconstitutional. Fouad Makhlouf, secretary-general of HIISE, had stated earlier, in April 2019, that the replacement of HIISE's role by an alternative electoral body would be unconstitutional. Background Early 2019 protests and internet censorship Plans for a presidential election in Algeria in 2019 were a major factor motivating the start of the 2019 Algerian protests, with protestors objecting to the reelection of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. On 22 February 2019, protests took place in Algiers, Oran, Sétif, Annaba and other Algerian cities over Bouteflika's bid to continue for a fifth term. Algerians reported difficulty accessing online services and the NetBlocks internet observatory published technical evidence of multiple targeted internet disruptions at demonstration flashpoints in Tizi Ouzou and around Algiers. Candidates Bensalah is not eligible to