Algeria's Constitutional Council declares 'vacancy of presidency'

Algeria's Constitutional Council officially accepted the resignation of president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, state TV reported on Wednesday, a day after the 82-year-old announced he was quitting following weeks of massive demonstrations.

The Council informed parliament "of the declaration of the definitive vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic," the TV station announced in a news ticker.

Algeria's ailing Bouteflika resigned on Tuesday, succumbing to six weeks of largely peaceful mass protests driven by youth and pressure from the powerful army against his 20-year rule.

Hundreds took to the streets of the capital after the announcement of the 82 -year-old's departure, capping protests which called for the removal of an elite seen by many as out of touch with ordinary people and presiding over an economy riven by cronyism.

Earlier in the day, army chief of staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah demanded the veteran ruler, who has long been in poor health, be declared immediately unfit for office.

"I have taken this step because I am keen to put an end to the current bickering," Bouteflika said in a letter released on state media, using his main means of communication since suffering a stroke in 2013 and largely disappearing from public view.

Protesters reject caretaker government 

As Bouteflika's grip on power started to loosen over recent days, some protesters began shifting their focus to rejecting a caretaker government appointed on Sunday.

The lineup included respected technocrats but was headed by Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, who the opposition said was too close to the ruling elite dominated by business tycoons and veteran fighters of the 1954-62 independence war with France.

"What is important to us is that we do not accept the [caretaker] government," Mustapha Bouchachi, a lawyer and protest leader, told Reuters news agency before Bouteflika quit. 

"Peaceful protests will continue."

Hundreds of students also marched early on Tuesday through the capital Algiers, calling for a new system in a country where more than one in four Algerians under the age of 30 – some 70 percent of the population – are unemployed.

Bouteflika 'apologises' to Algerians 

Also on Wednesday, Bouteflika offered his "apologies" to the Algerian people in a letter published by state media, after he resigned as president in the face of huge protests.

"I leave the political stage without sadness or fear for the future of our country," Bouteflika said in the letter released by the APS news agency.