ALGERIA: POLITICS - Authorities say parliamentary election is a stepping stone towards a more democratic state but many people do not believe their promises, expect only marginal change and will stay away from polling stations

Record ID: 574106

  • Title: ALGERIA: POLITICS - Authorities say parliamentary election is a stepping stone towards a more democratic state but many people do not believe their promises, expect only marginal change and will stay away from polling stations
  • Date: 10th May 2012
  • Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA, (MAY 9, 2012) (REUTERS) ALGIERS SKYLINE ALGERIA'S FLAGS WAVING AT MAY 1ST SQUARE PEOPLE WALKING BY STATUE TRAFFIC ON THE ROAD PEOPLE WALKING IN BUSY STREET CAR TRAFFIC IN ROUNDABOUT, ALGERIA FLAG WOMEN WALKING BY ELECTION POSTERS VARIOUS CLOSE OF ELECTION POSTERS POST OFFICE IN CENTRE PEOPLE LOOKING AT ELECTION POSTERS YOUNG MEN WALKING BY ELECTION POSTERS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT ELECTION POSTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LOCAL RESIDENT, KARIM, SAYING: "There are no jobs, why should I vote, all the young people are in prison. They ask me to vote, no I won't vote." VARIOUS OF SECURITY PRESENCE ON THE STREET PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET NEWSPAPER KIOSK
  • Embargoed: 25th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6SQKU79IW5N3RFB25IP94JBS3
  • Story Text: Algeria's authorities say a parliamentary election on Thursday is a stepping stone towards a more democratic state, but many people do not believe their promises, expect only marginal change and will stay away from polling stations.
    The north African country is under pressure to come into line with neighbouring states, where "Arab Spring" uprisings last year pushed out autocratic leaders and are bringing hopes of genuine democracy for the first time.
    The vote is likely, for the first time in Algeria's history, to make Islamist parties the biggest bloc in the 462-seat national assembly, say diplomats and analysts. That will be in keeping with a trend in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere since the "Arab Spring."
    However, there is little chance that will lead to radical change: the Islamists who are expected to dominate are moderate and loyal to the ruling establishment. Several of their leaders are already ministers in the government.
    Few Algerians have any appetite for upheaval in a country still haunted by a civil war in the 1990s that killed an estimated 200,000 people. The government has instead offered what it is calling a managed transition to greater democracy.
    There was little sign of elections on the street as people went about their daily lives, some stopped to look at elections poster but most ignored the billboards scattered across the capital.
    Some felt they had seen it all before.
    "There are no jobs, why should I vote, all the young people are in prison. They ask me to vote, no I won't vote," said one local resident.
    "Frankly, I don't wait for anything from the Algerian politicians, I am not interested in that because everything is already decided, so there is no politics that's it," said university student Aida.
    President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said on Tuesday the election was a decisive stage in Algeria's programme of reform, and appealed to people to turn out and vote.
    The main issue at stake is how many people vote. There are no reliable opinion polls but anecdotal evidence suggests many Algerians will stay home.
    A low turnout will be awkward for the authorities, still dominated by the people who helped win independence from France 50 years ago. They want to shed their fusty, authoritarian image, and to do that they need popular legitimacy.
    "Everyone has to vote, we wait for a change, it's up to us to change the situation because it cannot change by itself," said one local woman who didn't want to give her name.
    The election is likely to be the fairest and most transparent in two decades. More parties than ever before have been allowed to compete, and for the first time the European Union has been invited to monitor the vote.
    The problem for the authorities is that many Algerians believe elections change nothing.
    Real power, they say, lies with an informal network which is commonly known by the French term "le pouvoir," or "the power," and has its roots in the security forces. Officials deny this and say the country is run by democratically-elected officials.
    A minority of Algerians are using the election as an opportunity to protest. Members of one group, the Movement of Independent Youth for Change, have been arrested for protesting against what they call an "electoral masquerade."
    Yet there is no groundswell of anti-establishment feeling and little prospect of any big protests like those that brought down the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
    Oil revenues have brought better standards of living, and Algerians see last year's bloodshed in neighbouring Libya as a lesson in the risks of a revolt.
    Whatever the outcome of the vote, the authorities are likely to press on with a reform programme.
    The first step, many analysts predict, will be the appointment of a new prime minister. Ahmed Ouyahia, prime minister since 2008, has zealously implemented a programme of economic nationalism that has chilled the business climate. A limited thaw is now likely.
    The next phase is a review of the constitution, which will probably re-distribute some power from the president to parliament.
    That will be followed by a race for the presidency. Bouteflika, who is 75 and often looks frail, is not expected to run for a fourth term. Speaking in the northeastern town of Setif on Tuesday of the need for a new generation of leaders, he said: "For us, it's over."
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