ALGERIA: Algerian parties rally supporters in final campaigns as the country gears up for May 10 parliamentary poll

Record ID: 346563

  • Title: ALGERIA: Algerian parties rally supporters in final campaigns as the country gears up for May 10 parliamentary poll
  • Date: 8th May 2012
  • Summary: CU OF GIRL
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACVI2HI8F237FBS8SFJB8YLHX6
  • Story Text: Algerian parties held election rallies on Sunday (May 6), the last day of campaigning, as Algerians prepared to take to the polls in the first parliamentary election since Arab Spring uprisings that unseated autocratic rulers in neighbouring Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
    In the capital Algiers, the country's ruling party, the National Liberation Front, known by its French initials FLN held its final rally led by it's Secretary General, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, a close ally of 75-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika who is viewed by many as a potential successor.
    The FLN is competing against an unprecedented number of parties after Bouteflika, under pressure following last year's popular Arab uprisings, opened up the political space. Belkhadem pledged to work together with islamists parties.
    "We are certain that FLN will win a majority in this election, but just like we accepted multi-party politics in 1989, we will accept whatever comes out of the ballot boxes," he said.
    The FLN was the movement which fought French colonial rule and, after independence in 1962, it ruled in a one-party system, coming to be known as "the state within the state".
    With echoes of the Soviet Communist Party, the constitution for years contained an article requiring any senior official to be an FLN member.
    Though the FLN lost some of its status 20 years ago when Algeria adopted a multi-party system, even now it is seen as the "party of power". Bouteflika is honorary chairman of the FLN and most government ministers are members.
    But in the past few weeks, a fight for control that at times verged on farce has eclipsed the FLN's august traditions.
    When the rebel faction tried to hold a session of the FLN's central committee to vote no confidence in Belkhadem, they found that Belkhadem's loyalists had locked the doors of the party's national headquarters, a Moorish villa in the capital, Algiers.
    The party dissidents held a brief protest in the front garden of the building, shattering the calm of the street in the up-market Hydra district where the headquarters is located.
    The mutiny is now on hold after Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia intervened and said the issue would be reviewed after the May 10 parliamentary election. But that is likely to be only a temporary reprieve for Belkhadem.
    Elsewhere, on the outskirts of Algiers, in El Kalitous, Islamist candidate Abdullah Jaballah was rallying his supporters ahead of the elections.
    Islamists who have support in rural areas are hoping for larger share of the parliament this time around.
    "I am certain that if the upcoming parliamentary elections are transparent, El Adala will be amongst the winners. El Adala party, in the eyes of the Algerian people is the number one party that will bring about winds of change, fundamental deep change, comprehensive, realistic and true (change)," Jaballah said.
    Commissions of judges and political parties have been given oversight over how the vote is run. International observers, including some from the European Union and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), have been invited.
    All that amounts to a fresh gust of wind in a political scene that has for years been calm.
    President Bouteflika, 75, said the country was ready to "launch a new stage in the implementation of democracy." The United States and European countries have applauded the reforms.
    There is, though, little sign of enthusiasm about the election in Algeria, which this year marks the 50th anniversary of its independence from France.
    In fact, the authorities seem concerned that apathy could lead to a low turnout. The state phone operator has been sending out text messages urging people to vote.
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