By AFPMore by this AuthorALGIERS,Algeria's magistrates, who play a key role overseeing the country's elections, said Saturday they would boycott a July 4 presidential election in support of the protest movement. PROTESTMore than 100 magistrates staged a protest outside the justice ministry on Saturday in response to a call by the Magistrates' Club -- a nascent group set up as an alternative to the regime's National Magistrates' Syndicate (SNM). "The Magistrates' Club has decided to boycott the task of supervising the presidential election," said Saad Eddine Merzoug, a judge from El Oued in the country's southeast. The judge said the new club had members at every court in the country, without specifying numbers. Magistrates play a major role organising votes in Algeria.

Source: Daily Nation April 13, 2019 16:41 UTC