TUNIS — Thousands of Algerians returned to the streets on Friday, June 7, buoyed by the decision of the Constitutional Council to cancel presidential elections scheduled for July 4. A new date has not, however, been set.

This latest concession to the Algerian street has provided further impetus to the popular protests that have rocked the country’s political class. With the postponement announced June 2, Algeria’s elite has essentially positioned itself beyond the reach of the constitution it has clung to throughout the unrest, which began in mid-February. Moreover, by doing so it appears to lend additional credence to protesters’ calls for a new electoral committee to oversee a fresh vote.

The deviation from the constitution represents a significant breach for a government that claims its legitimacy to be founded upon the document's bedrock, even though it has shown little regard for it when refashioning its provisions according to its electoral needs, amending it to suit presidential terms in 2008 and 2016. By breaking with precedent, however, Algeria’s elite, including the interim president, Abdelkader Bensalah, and army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah, have lent fresh urgency to protesters’ calls for the government’s exit from the political stage and the establishment of an independent electoral commission, free from the allegiances that have skewed the results of past elections in favor of the ruling class and are widely understood to be ready to do so again.

For some, the motives behind the cancellation of the elections are evidence of the elite’s desperation, amounting to little more than political sleight of hand in attempting to satisfy the protesters' demands for reform while stopping short of conceding to the full scope of those demands. “It’s not a real solution,” Khalil Che, a protester from the port city of Oran, said to Al-Monitor. “They’re just trying to fool the population.”