From Lamine Chikhi at Reuters:

More than 1,000 judges said they would refuse to oversee Algeria’s election next month if President Abdelaziz Bouteflika contests it, in one of the biggest blows to the ailing leader since the start of protests now in their third week.

In a statement on Sunday, the judges added that they were forming a new association “to restore the gift of justice”. Bouteflika returned to Algeria on Sunday after undergoing medical treatment in Switzerland.

“We announce our intention to abstain from … supervising the election process against the will of the people, which is the only source of power,” said the judges. Judges should join an effort to “declare that we are the people”, the judges said in a statement.