ALGERIA: POLITICS - Opposition leader won't challenge President Bouteflika in April election

Record ID: 573633

  • Title: ALGERIA: POLITICS - Opposition leader won't challenge President Bouteflika in April election
  • Date: 18th February 2009
  • Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (FEBRUARY 17, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS EL-ISLAH PARTY HEADQUARTERS SIGN READING (Arabic/French): "EL-ISLAH, NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS" FRONT DOOR LEADER OF EL-ISLAH MOVEMENT ABDALLAH DJABALLAH AT HIS DESK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABDALLAH DJABALLAH, OPPOSITION LEADER, SAYING: "We decided not to participate in the presidential elections because their results are predetermined. Firstly because these elections are closed to presidential candidates. They closed them the day they amended the constitution in late November 2008. Secondly, because the political arena has been closed for nearly a decade. The current regime has sought to domesticate those parties that can be tamed, and has sought to break the will of those parties with integrity that refused to be tamed. It has also monopolised the different media outlets. I, for one, have not appeared on Algerian television for many years, precisely since the 2004 presidential elections. Fourthly, because there has been unchecked exploitation of the entire administration. All the ministries have joined in the election campaign to the benefit of the president. The entire administration, from its highest to its lowest official, has joined this campaign. Participating in this kind of election would constitute an advance approval of these kinds of practices, so we prefer to distance ourselves from such a situation." DJABALLAH AT HIS DESK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABDALLAH DJABALLAH, OPPOSITION LEADER, SAYING: "It would be greatly misleading to the public to say that elections in Algeria can be transparent. In reality it is the complete opposite of that. Algeria cannot have honest and transparent elections until the mindsets of the ruling elites and decision-makers have been altered." DJABALLAH'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABDALLAH DJABALLAH, OPPOSITION LEADER, SAYING: "I expect the public will boycott the elections, and it will be a very high percentage of them that do so. But even with that, they are used to fraud, falsifying results and announcing false results that do not reflect reality." DJABALLAH TALKING TO REPORTER
  • Embargoed: 5th March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8EK2X6CGGD55JE84T5AX9139M
  • Story Text: Algeria's upcoming presidential election will be a hollow exercise and all but a few Algerians will boycott the polls to show their disapproval, the country's top opposition Islamist said.
    Abdallah Djaballah, 52, said he decided not to challenge President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April's election because the incumbent head of state had effectively already won.

    "We decided not to participate in the presidential elections because their results are predetermined," Djaballah told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday (February 17).

    "These elections are closed to presidential candidates. They closed them the day they amended the constitution in late November 2008."
    Bouteflika confirmed last week he would seek a third term in office, a move made possible after lawmakers changed the constitution to lift a limit on presidential terms.
    The north African country had just one legal political party after independence in 1962 -- the National Liberation Front (FLN) which led the overthrow of former colonial power France. Multi-party politics and a freer press arrived in 1989 but Bouteflika's FLN and a clutch of loyalist parties still dominate the system. Parties based on overtly religious or ethnic lines are banned.

    "The political arena has been closed for nearly a decade. The current regime has sought to domesticate those parties that can be tamed, and has sought to break the will of those parties with integrity that refused to be tamed," Djaballah said.
    Djaballah claimed the government was using the media and different ministries to support its campaign and exclude competitors.

    "I, for one, have not appeared on Algerian television for many years, precisely since the 2004 presidential elections," he said.

    "The entire administration, from its highest to its lowest official, has joined this campaign. Participating in this kind of election would constitute an advance approval of these kinds of practices, so we prefer to distance ourselves from such a situation," he added.
    When an Islamist party looked set to win legislative elections in 1992, the government cancelled the polls, sparking a decade-long insurgency that left some 150,000 Algerians dead.
    The violence has subsided since Bouteflika came to power in 1999 but security forces are still battling a hard core of radicals loyal to Al Qaeda who have carried out a series of bombings and attacks.
    Djaballah, speaking at the headquarters of his El Islah (Reform) party in the capital Algiers, said the government must do more to prevent youngsters from joining militant groups.
    No consensus candidate has emerged to challenge the 71-year-old Bouteflika. Supporters say the former independence war hero deserves the continued trust of the people for having put Algeria back on the path to stability.
    Fearing a repeat of a record-low 35-percent turnout in 2007 legislative elections, the government has launched a campaign to encourage Algerians to vote.
    Millions have received text messages on mobile phones, officials have visited campuses to motivate students and mosque imams have been asked to urge the faithful to vote.

    "I expect the public will boycott the elections, and it will be a very high percentage of them that do so. But even with that, they are used to fraud, falsifying results and announcing false results that do not reflect reality," Djaballah said.
    Bouteflika has vowed to ensure transparent elections by inviting foreign observers. Djaballah, who took part in 2004 presidential election as a leader of El-Islah, was sceptical.

    "It would be greatly misleading to the public to say that elections in Algeria can be transparent. In reality it is the complete opposite of that. Algeria cannot have honest and transparent elections until the mindsets of the ruling elites and decision-makers have been altered,"
    he said.
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