Following the demonstrations against President Abdul-Aziz Bouteflika in Algeria for several weeks, Algerians Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah called for President Abdul-Aziz Bouteflika to be declared unfit to rule the country.

In a televised address on Tuesday, Salah, the army chief, said he considered the people's demands to be valid and that the presidency should be vacated.

"We must adopt a solution that helps us out of this crisis. A solution that respects and adheres to the constitution so that it's a suitable one for all sides. This solution is stipulated in Article 102 of the Constitution," Salah said.

Under Article 102, the Constitutional Council could determine the president is too ill to fully exercise his functions, and ask the parliament to declare him unfit. Bouteflika has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. 

Bouteflika left the post of Algerian National Council President Abd-el-Kader Bensalah for 45 days for the presidency was announced.

On the other hand, Algerian people have said they will not accept the establishment of a new government with the hand of those ruling the country for 20 years.

Mustafa Bouchachi, a lawyer and human rights activist who led the protests, said that the public demand was "a complete change of the system", not the names.

In Algeria, presidential elections were planned on April 18 but since February 22, hundreds of thousands of Algerians have taken part in nationwide demonstrations protesting Bouteflika's re-election bid.

An 82-year-old Abdul-Aziz Bouteflika, who took the power in 1999 and served for 4 terms, once again became a candidate in spite of health problems, led to protests in the country. (ILKHA)