ALGERIA: After boycotting all national elections for more than a decade, Algeria's oldest opposition party, the Front des Forces Socialistes (FFS), returns to the campaign trail in its heartland

Record ID: 574103

  • Title: ALGERIA: After boycotting all national elections for more than a decade, Algeria's oldest opposition party, the Front des Forces Socialistes (FFS), returns to the campaign trail in its heartland
  • Date: 30th April 2012
  • Summary: TIZI-OUZOU, ALGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) CARS IN STREET VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ON STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Berber) LOCAL RESIDENT, HAKIM, SAYING: "People lost trust in the system, do you understand me? There is no one anymore, the ones who were before didn't do anything and the new ones won't do anything either. Everyone is after their own interests -- everyone knows that, but hopefully everything will be alright." MORE OF PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Berber) LOCAL RESIDENT, SAMIR, SAYING: "All the Algerian political parties are the same." OLD WOMAN WALKING ON STREET (SOUNDBITE) (French) LOCAL RESIDENT, DJAMEL, SAYING: "None of the political parties represent the people." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE HEADQUARTERS OF FRONT DES FORCES SOCIALISTES (FFS) SIGNBOARD WRITTEN IN ARABIC AND FRENCH, READING: "FRONT DES FORCES SOCIALISTES" BANNER FOR FFS PEOPLE GATHERING OUTSIDE "OUKIL RAMDAN STADIUM" WHERE FFS MEETING IS BEING HELD PEOPLE ENTERING STADIUM MAN HANDING OUT FLYERS TO PEOPLE ENTERING STADIUM MAN READING FLYER CLOSE ON FLYER MEMBER OF FFS AND CHAIRMAN OF ALGERIAN LEAGUE FOR DEFENSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS, MUSTAPHA BOUCHACHI, GREETING PEOPLE (SOUNDBITE) (French) MEMBER OF FFS AND CHAIRMAN OF ALGERIAN LEAGUE FOR DEFENSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS, MUSTAPHA BOUCHACHI, SAYING: "We are not taking part in these elections to support the authorities but to move towards a peaceful change in Algeria, for a real democracy, not just a facade of democracy." BOUCHACHI WALKING WITH SUPPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (French) SECRETARY GENERAL OF FRONT DES FORCES SOCIALISTES (FFS) PARTY, ALI LASKRI, SAYING: "We were frank about what has changed. We talked about the regional context -- the region became very weak and there must be cohesion in this region and in the country so we decided to participate. Also to remobilize the party, the population and people in general, for the rehabilitation of policy because there is complete alienation of policy in Algeria." LASKRI ENTERING STADIUM / GREETING SUPPORTERS VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS IN STADIUM LASKRI SEATED LASKRI GIVING SPEECH WHERE HE SAYS: "VOTE FOR FFS, VOTE FOR FFS." PEOPLE CHANTING: "NATIONAL REGIONAL POWER FFS" LASKRI BEHIND PODIUM PEOPLE SEATED IN STADIUM WITH FFS POSTERS BEHIND THEM VARIOUS OF FFS MEETING IN STADIUM
  • Embargoed: 15th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria, Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5U21FWDPA3EZSFLOSSOLQNPAB
  • Story Text: It was a homecoming. After boycotting all national elections for more than a decade, Algeria's oldest opposition party was back on the campaign trail in its heartland.
    But the rally at a soccer stadium in the Berber town of Tizi-Ouzou was a muted affair. About 1,500 people showed up, assembling around the half-way line. When a party leader led anti-authorities chants, the sound echoed off empty seats.
    Algeria's authorities said they heeded calls for change after last year's Arab uprisings in nearby countries and will ensure a May 10 parliamentary election is truly democratic.
    To back their argument the vote will be different, they cited the decision of the opposition Front des Forces Socialistes (FFS) to end its boycott of polls it said were rigged.
    The party is headed by Hocine Ait Ahmed, 85, who helped lead the fight half a century ago for Algeria's independence from colonial ruler France. He once organised a post office robbery to fund the insurrection.
    Soon after independence, he turned against Algeria's new rulers, saying they were not democratic. He paid for his dissent with years of jail and exile, becoming a symbol of uncompromising, principled opposition.
    Ait Ahmed and his lieutenants see the Arab revolts elsewhere as creating an opportunity for genuine change in Algeria, which shares the problems of youth unemployment and unaccountable rule that sparked revolutions in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
    Yet people milling on a street corner near FFS headquarters in Tizi-Ouzou had low expectations for the party as it contests an election for a parliament that anyway holds little power.
    "People lost trust in the system, do you understand me? There is no one anymore, the ones who were before didn't do anything and the new ones won't do anything either. Everyone is after their own interests -- everyone knows that, but hopefully everything will be alright," said one man named Hakim in Tizi-Ouzou.
    "All the Algerian political parties are the same," said another man named Samir, while his fellow resident Djamel thought none of the political parties were truly representative of the people.
    But Mustafa Bouchachi, an FFS leader and chairman of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, told Reuters as he arrived for the party rally at Tizi-Ouzou's soccer stadium on Saturday (April 21) that FFS believes change is possible.
    "We are not taking part in these elections to support the authorities but to move towards a peaceful change in Algeria, for a real democracy, not just a facade of democracy," he said.
    Yet even some FFS loyalists seem unconvinced Algeria's military-backed ruling elite will loosen its grip on power.
    Tizi-Ouzou, about 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital Algiers, is the bedrock of FFS support and the unofficial capital of Algeria's significant Berber ethnic minority.
    Ait Ahmed was born near here, and after Algeria won independence in 1962 he briefly led an armed revolt against the new rulers from this region. Road signs in Tizi-Ouzou are written in the Berber, or Amazigh, alphabet, and the FFS uses the language to address its supporters.
    The party's own officials talk of the election as an opportunity to "re-mobilise" opposition supporters in Algeria and start a real debate about how the country should be run.
    "We were frank about what has changed. We talked about the regional context -- the region became very weak and there must be cohesion in this region and in the country so we decided to participate. Also to re-mobilise the party, the population and people in general, for the rehabilitation of policy because there is complete alienation of policy in Algeria," said Ali Laskri the highest-ranked FFS official in Algeria.
    As in many other countries, Algerians are cynical about their politicians. Some speculate the FFS has dropped its election boycott in a secret deal with the ruling establishment, although there is no firm evidence of this.
    Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is 75 and is unlikely to seek re-election when his termin 2014. The elite, say analysts, will seek a managed handover of power, but if that fails there could be an opportunity for the opposition.
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