Revised Constitution approved by the Referendum of November 28th, 1996.
The CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL
9, Rue Abou Nouas, Hydra
Algiers, Algeria
Translation undertaken by the services of the Direction of Documentation
of the Constitutional Council.
PREAMBLE
The Algerian people are a free people, and decided to remain so.
Its history is a long series of struggles that always made Algeria a land of freedom and dignity.
Being at the heart of great events witnessed by the Mediterranean area throughout history, Algeria has found in her sons, since the Numid era and the Islamic epic and up to the wars of decolonization, the pioneers of freedom, unity and progress as well as builders of democratic and prosperous States during the periods of glory and peace.
The 1st of November 1954 was a turning point for its destiny and a crowning for the tong resistance to aggressions carried out against its culture, its values and the fundamental components of its identity which are Islam, Arabity and Amazighity. Its current struggles are well rooted in the glorious past of the nation.
Gathered in the national movement and later within the National Front of Liberation, the Algerian people have made great sacrifices in order to assume their collective destiny in the framework of recovered freedom and cultural identity and to build authentic people's democratic constitutional institutions.
The National Front of Liberation crowned the sacrifices of the best sons of Algeria during the People's war of liberation with independence and built a modern and full sovereign State.
The belief in the collective chokes allowed the people to achieve great successes, characterized by the recovery of the national resources and the building of a State exclusively for the benefit of the people and exercising freely its powers and without any external pressures.
Having fought and still fighting for freedom and democracy, the Algerian people, by this Constitution, decided to build constitutional institutions based on the participation of any Algerian, man and woman, in the management of public affairs; and on the ability to achieve social Justice, equality and freedom for all.
The Constitution is the concretisation of the People's genius, the reflection of their aspirations, the fruit of their determination and the product of the deep social changes. Thus, in approving this Constitution, the People are, more than ever, decided to consider the law above everything.
The Constitution is above all, it is the fundamental law which guarantees the individual and collective rights and liberties, protects the principle of the People 's free choke and gives the legitimacy to the exercise of powers. It helps to ensure the legal protection and the control of the public authorities in a society in which lawfulness and man's progress prevail in all its dimensions.
Strong with their deeply rooted spiritual values and preserving their traditions of solidarity and justice, the people are confident in their ability to participate efficiently in the cultural, social and economic progress of the present and future world.
Algeria, being a land of Islam, an integral Part of the Great Maghreb, an Arab land, a Mediterranean and African country is proud of the radiance of its 1st of November Revolution and is honored by the respect the country gained and knew how to preserve it through its engagement towards the just causes in the world.
The pride of the People, their sacrifices, their sense of responsibility and their ancestral attachment to freedom and to social justice are the best guaranty for the respect to this Constitution which they adopt and transmit to future generations, heirs of the freedom pioneers and the builders of free society.
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