ALGERIA: Former Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal campaigns for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's re-election

Record ID: 347029

  • Title: ALGERIA: Former Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal campaigns for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's re-election
  • Date: 13th April 2014
  • Summary: ANNABA, ALGERIA (APRIL 12, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CROWDS WAITING TO GREET FORMER ALGERIAN PRIME MINISTER, ABDELMALEK SELLAL / MEN ON HORSEBACK SELLAL ARRIVING, WAVING AT CROWDS / AUDIO OF TWO CELEBRATORY GUNSHOTS BEING FIRED SELLAL SHAKING PEOPLE'S HANDS ON ARRIVAL / FLOWER PETALS BEING THROWN ON HIM WOMAN SUPPORTER SHOUTING SELLAL'S NAME, WAVING SELLAL GREETING PEOPLE
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAFR15XN4ETX7LP2BORIR57GXH
  • Story Text: Former Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal campaigned on Saturday (April 12) for the re-election of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
    Greeted by supporters at a stadium in the eastern city of Annaba, Sellal walked through the cheering crowds, shaking hands and being showered with petals, before taking the stage.
    Sellal has said Bouteflika is recovering steadily from a stroke last year, talks with his team every day, and is healthy enough to govern after the election on April 17.
    The 77-year-old veteran of Algeria's independence war, has no serious rivals for re-election in Thursday's ballot, but he has not campaigned himself and has only rarely spoken in public since his illness.
    Questions about Bouteflika's health and Algeria's stability are key for Western governments, who see the North African state as a partner in the campaign against Islamist militancy in the Maghreb, and a stable supplier of gas for Europe.
    Sellal, who resigned as prime minister to campaign for Bouteflika, has said the president planned constitutional reforms to strengthen democracy, with term limits for the president and wider powers for opposition parties if he wins.
    Supporter Samir said Bouteflika would always be his first choice.
    "We are behind him for the fourth time, and are always with President Bouteflika -- even if he was in his grave -- we are always with him because he brought stability and achieved a lot," he said at the rally.
    With the support of the powerful Front de Liberation Nationale party (FLN), which has dominated Algerian politics since independence from France, most observers say Bouteflika faces little challenge from the five election rivals.
    For opposition leaders, though, the re-election bid by an ailing leader is the last gasp of the old guard of FLN party elites and army generals who see themselves as the guardians of stability and have mostly resisted change.
    Critics say Algeria needs hefty reforms to open up an economy heavily dependent on energy revenues and to attract more foreign investors, who are wary of the restrictions and bureaucracy of the largely state-controlled system.
    Still, Bouteflika loyalists are quick to say they believe he delivered Algeria from the darker days of its 1990s war with Islamist militants, which killed around 200,000 people and left many Algerians deeply wary of instability.
    "We are with Bouteflika till the end, he represents safety! Safety! Safety! The safety he gave us, the stability he gave us - it's peace for us," said supporter Soraya at the Annaba rally.
    Algeria has mostly escaped unrest during the Arab Spring. In the 1980s, the FLN had already ended one-party rule, introducing a multi-party system that eventually allowed Islamists to come to the brink of winning power.
    Observers say Algeria is still mostly being governed through behind-the-scenes manoeuvring between FLN clans and the military, an establishment known as "Le Pouvoir", French for "The Power", which has left little room for strong opposition.
    Anti-government protests are still rare in Algeria, but the main rival opposition parties have joined forces to boycott Thursday's election, which they say is unfairly tilted in FLN's favour.
    A small movement called Barakat or "Enough" has been staging weekly demonstrations in Algiers and in other cities against a fourth term for Bouteflika, but has drawn only small numbers.
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