Council postpones July elections

Algeria has postponed next month’s presidential elections after the two candidates were disqualified. The polls were to elect a successor to Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who resigned after a major uprising. Deutsche Welle reports that the Constitutional Council said it would be ‘impossible’ for the vote to go ahead on 4 July because the only two candidates had been rejected. It did not explain why. The council added that it was now up to interim President Abdelkader Bensalah to set a date for a new vote.