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| Algeria deputies scrap term limit | Algeria deputies scrap term limit |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The Algerian parliament has approved a constitutional amendment that abolishes a two-term limit for the president. | The Algerian parliament has approved a constitutional amendment that abolishes a two-term limit for the president. |
| The change opens the way for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term in elections due next April. | The change opens the way for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term in elections due next April. |
| The measure was passed by 500 votes out of 529, easily surpassing the three-quarters majority needed from the session of the upper and lower houses. | The measure was passed by 500 votes out of 529, easily surpassing the three-quarters majority needed from the session of the upper and lower houses. |
| Opposition parties have opposed the measure, warning that it could destroy political pluralism. | |
| The change was one of several constitutional amendments that Mr Bouteflika says will deepen democracy. | |
| No referendum | |
| The 71-year-old president, a veteran of Algerian politics, was first elected in 1999. | |
| His supporters have long pressed him to scrap the term limit and run for a third term. | |
| They say he is the best person to consolidate Algeria's recovery from a brutal civil conflict that began in 1992. | |
| Algeria is a major producer of oil and gas and has launched an ambitious economic development programme using profits from the sale of hydrocarbons. | |
| But opposition politicians say the economy remains dangerously dependent on energy sales, and that profits have not been used to improve the lives of ordinary Algerians. | |
| They have also said the constitutional changes only serve the interests of Mr Bouteflika and his supporters in Algeria's ruling elite. | |
| Mr Bouteflika chose to push the constitutional changes through parliament rather than putting them to a referendum, as some had suggested. |