ALGERIA: Algerian opposition parties rally several thousand supporters to call for a boycott of next month's election and to reject President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's run for another term

Record ID: 346991

  • Title: ALGERIA: Algerian opposition parties rally several thousand supporters to call for a boycott of next month's election and to reject President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's run for another term
  • Date: 24th March 2014
  • Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (MARCH 21, 2014) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF SPORTS COMPLEX POLICE OUTSIDE THE COMPLEX VARIOUS OF POSTERS, CALLING FOR ELECTION BOYCOTT PROTESTERS INSIDE THE STADIUM VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SHOUTING SLOGANS, CALLING FOR ELECTION BOYCOTT PROTESTER HOLDING BANNER, READING: "BOUTEFLIKA, LEAVE" PEOPLE HOLDING VARIOUS BANNERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PROTESTER SAYING: "
  • Embargoed: 8th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAESP21LIVAUP88O3KXJAV3AOWU
  • Story Text: Algerian opposition parties rallied several thousand supporters on Friday (March 21) to call for a boycott of next month's election and to reject President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's run for another term after 15 years in power.
    Bouteflika, the 77-year-old veteran of Algeria's independence war, registered for the April 17 ballot despite suffering a stroke last year that opponents say has left him unfit to govern for another five years.
    Chanting "Boycott" and "The people want the regime out," around 5,000 people packed in an Algiers sports stadium where Islamist leaders and secular parties denounced Bouteflika's bid. They called for reforms to a political system they see as corrupt.

    "We are here for the boycott of the fourth term. We are against the regime, which must step down," said one man.
    Others echoed the sentiment.

    "Boycott, we are fed up of this regime," said another man.
    Friday's rally was a rare opposition gathering in the North African oil producer and OPEC member. Rival clans of elites and army generals have dominated politics behind the scenes since Algeria's 1962 independence from France.
    On the streets of Algiers, the mood was not much different.
    One woman Salima said she was yet to make up her mind on who to vote for, but other young men were vocal they and their families would not vote.

    "No, I will not vote. It's always the same regime. We are fed up," said Bouslimani.
    But with the backing of the powerful ruling National Liberation Front (FLN), army factions and business elites, Bouteflika is almost assured victory, even though he has rarely spoken or been seen in public since his illness last year.
    After the Arab Spring uprisings across North Africa in 2011, Bouteflika ordered heavy spending from Algeria's oil earnings on housing, public services and other basic infrastructure to counter any social unrest.
    Opposition parties remain weak and divided in the country, where memories of a 1990s war with armed Islamist militants remain painfully fresh, leaving many Algerians wary of instability and political upheaval.
    At Friday's rally, rival Islamist and secular party supporters heckled and chanted at each other across the stadium in a reminder of splits between the RCD and the MSP Islamist party, who have been adversaries for years.
    Six opposition parties said they will not participate in the election, which Bouteflika's critics believe is tilted in favour of his FLN party and Algeria's ruling political elites.
    Bouteflika's former prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal has stepped down to run the president's campaign. Even if he cannot campaign himself, though, loyalists portray Bouteflika as the guarantor of stability in a tumultuous region.
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