A deadline to register for Algeria's controversial presidential election has passed without a single candidate putting themselves forward, national radio said Sunday.

Abassi Madani, founder of Algeria's banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), will be buried in the capital Algiers on Saturday days after his death in Qatar where he lived in exile, a security source said.

Madani had called for armed struggle in 1992 after Algeria's military scrapped the country's first multi-party parliamentary election which the FIS had won, and pushed for the creation of an Islamic state in the North African nation.

Algerian authorities apparently intent on clearing away two decades of cronyism following the ouster of veteran leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika have reopened an investigation against an ex-energy minister close to the former president, according to state media.

Algeria's richest man Issad Rebrab has been detained in jail on the public prosecutor's orders, state media reported Tuesday, a day after his arrest as part of a corruption probe.

The head of Algeria's constitutional council stepped down Tuesday after weeks facing the ire of protesters, state television reported.

Tayeb Belaiz informed the council, which will play a key role in upcoming presidential elections, that "he presented his resignation... to the head of state".

The head of Algeria's constitutional council stepped down Tuesday after weeks facing the ire of protesters, state television reported.

Emotion filled the voice of Mustapha Bouchachi as the Algerian veteran lawyer and human rights activist recalled the peaceful mass protests that swept aside President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Algerian civil society groups warned Saturday of toughening police tactics and reaffirmed their commitment to peaceful pro-democracy rallies, a day after officers in riot gear clashed with protesters.

Strongmen in the Middle East and North Africa will be eyeing warily popular protests, fed by frustration with living standards and an elite perceived as corrupt, that helped push veteran Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and now Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir from power.

While recent events in Algeria and Sudan have been unique to those countries, analysts say the rapid downfall Bouteflika and Bashir are a warning to authoritarian leaders in the region that they will ignore popular anger, especially over economic grievances, at their peril.

Algerian police tried but failed to disperse protesters gathered for the first Friday protests since the announcement of presidential elections to succeed ousted leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.