ALGIERS: Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has decided to hold presidential election on Sept. 7, the presidency said on Thursday. The announcement to hold the elections in September comes three months ahead of schedule, a statement from the president’s office said, without providing further details. “It was decided to hold early presidential elections on Sept. 7, 2024,” read the statement released following a meeting chaired by Tebboune and attended by lawmakers and the army’s chief of staff. Tebboune was elected in December 2019 for a five-year term and can run for a second and final term, according to the Algerian constitution. Last year, parliament members urged him to do so. He has not officially announced his candidacy yet. The announcement took the nation by surprise as elections in Algeria had been expected to take place in December 2024, raising speculation among observers about the rationale for the change. The ballot in September will be the first since the 78-year-old military-backed leader ascended to power in 2019. He emerged the winner in a low-turnout election that December in the aftermath of a popular movement that led to his predecessor’s resignation. (With Reuters, AFP and AP)