ALGERIA: Throughout campaigning for the April 17 polls, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika remains mostly out of the public eye apart from brief television appearances, as he has done since having a stroke a year ago

Record ID: 347028

  • Title: ALGERIA: Throughout campaigning for the April 17 polls, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika remains mostly out of the public eye apart from brief television appearances, as he has done since having a stroke a year ago
  • Date: 8th April 2014
  • Summary: SELLAL HOLDING A WEAPON AND FIRING IN THE AIR VARIOUS OF SELLAL DOING A WALKABOUT AND SHAKING HANDS OF HIS SUPPORTERS. VARIOUS OF SELLAL WAVING UPON ARRIVAL FOR RALLY MEETING VARIOUS SUPPORTERS OF BOUTEFLIKA VARIOUS OF BOUTEFLIKA SUPPORTERS HOLDING PLACARDS OF HIM DURING RALLY VARIOUS BOUTEFLIKA POSTERS VARIOUS OF BOUTEFLIKA SUPPORTERS SUPPORTERS CHANTING: 'BOUTEFLIKA' (S
  • Embargoed: 23rd April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEZM417XOUJ0O2FZKTZDR55R4K
  • Story Text: Story: At a packed sports hall in western Algeria, portraits of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika gaze down on supporters rallying for his re-election. But the leader himself, weakened by a stroke a year ago, is a no-show.
    Throughout campaigning for the April 17 polls, Bouteflika has remained mostly out of the public eye apart from brief television appearances, as he has done since falling ill.
    His absences, and his health, have raised doubts about what will happen after the election in an OPEC oil exporter that supplies a fifth of Europe's gas, and plays a significant role in the Western war on Islamist militants.
    For now, Bouteflika is campaigning by proxy. With his former prime minister and allies criss-crossing Algeria in his name, the 77-year-old independence veteran is almost assured of a fourth term after 15 years leading the nation.

    "We recognize this president and have supported him since 1999, and will continue to do so until he himself announces that he is tired," Zina, a Bouteflika supporter, said.
    Bouteflika supporters credit him with ending a civil war in the 1990s between the state and domestic Islamist militants, saying he can keep Algiers stable.

    "Before there was chaos but he reapplied the law and now we are living a good life thank God. This is why we hold on to our president as we say, we love you, we love you and will will remain behind you all the way till the end," Fatima, a Bouteflika supporter, said.
    Algiers is a country still traumatised by the conflict that killed 200,000 and left little appetite for the turmoil unleashed on its neighbours after the revolts of 2011 in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.
    It is a theme that goes down well at the sports hall in Chlef. This is deep in loyalist territory, the farming provinces ravaged by the war where Bouteflika is hailed as the man who delivered peace, and who can keep delivering it.

    "He loves the nation and loves stability and pays attention to youths, women and the farmers. He loves all the different groups that make up this community and he is a good man and we love him. No other president will take his place in our hearts," Naciba, a Bouteflika supporter, said.
    Opponents dismiss Bouteflika's bid as the last breath of the old guard from the ruling Front de Liberation Nationale party (FLN) which has dominated Algerian politics since 1962 independence from France.
    With the backing of the political machinery of the FLN, army factions and business elite, Bouteflika faces little challenge from rival candidates despite his absences.
    Opposition critics accept Algeria may be more stable, but they also see a country mired in corruption, and political and economic torpor. After decades of state economic controls, a legacy of post-independence socialism, Algeria needs reforms to ease restrictions on foreign investment. Energy output, which makes up more than 90 percent of state revenue, is stagnating.
    At an opposition rally west of Algiers supporters of Ali Benflis one of five running against Bouteflika say a change is needed to make Algiers a better place.

    "I choose him (Benflis) because he is a man of law and he will fix the Algerian justice since he comes form that sector. He is also very credible," Zohra an Algerian at an opposition rally said.
    The five main opposition candidates running against Bouteflika seem to have little hope in a political system critics say has hardly changed since independence, and is still dominated by the FLN and its network of allied parties.
    Many young Algerians are dismissive of party politics. But protests are more common over food prices, unemployment, housing, services and loans - the same grievances that exploded into revolution in neighbouring Tunisia three years ago.

    "I choose Ali BinFlais since his programme is important and his message has brought back hope to us. I believe he is capable of taking Algiers out of the tunnel at has fallen into," 21-year-old Zaitouni said.
    Wary of "Arab Spring"-style tensions, in 2011, Bouteflika vaguely promised political reforms, but also increased budget spending by 25 percent, using reserves to ease riots and protests with spending on public workers' wages, jobs, housing and subsidies on flour, milk and cooking oil.
    Keeping up state largesse to ease tensions will depend on world energy prices staying high. But strikes, rallies and small protest movements in Algeria have been scattered, far from coalescing into a movement for widescale political reform.
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