Presidential elections will be held the 17 April. There is no question of the outcome, thanks to massive fraud and patronage, and the turnout will be abysmal (possibly around 10%).
Incumbent president
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77-year old, is running for a fourth consecutive term in office. After a stroke in April 2013, he was hospitalized in France for several weeks. Since then, he can't stand up and has big problems speaking. Last month, for the first time in almost one year, he spoke on television for 15 seconds while submitting his candidacy papers. However, there are strong allegations that he was 'helped' by
a video editing.
Yesterday, he finally made a short and surprising television intervention: during a filmed meeting with Spanish foreign minister, he attacked, without naming him, his main challenger Ali Benflis, denouncing him as having a 'not very democratic' behavior and as 'carrying out terrorism through the use of TV'. This is a reference to comments Benflis made three days ago on television when he denounced possible electoral fraud and called the
walis (governors of wilaya) and the heads of
daïras (subdivisions of the wilayas) to 'think about the safeguarding of their families'. Nevertheless, he still appeared very ill and remained seated during the whole televised meeting.
Despite his illness, Bouteflika was unanimously chosen as presidential candidate by the National Liberal Front (FLN, former single party) and the National Democratic Rally (RND, led by former prime minister and potential Bouteflika's successor Ahmed Ouyahia). Various ministers have stated that Bouteflika is doing better and is totally able to lead the country. One notably said that Bouteflika run the country 'with his head not with his feet'. Obviously opposants disagreed and there are many discussions about Bouteflika's actual health.
Will Bouteflika be candidate ? Algerians want to know.
- Blink one for yes!
There were supposedly some disagreements inside the military over a Bouteflika's fourth term. Broadly speaking the military establishment is divided into two rival factions: the Army Staff and the Department of Intelligence and Security (DRS). The latter is led since 1990 by the secretive and hardliner anti-islamist Mohamed Mediène 'Toufik'. Toufik is said to be an opponent to another Bouteflika's candidacy and rumored to be behind the investigation of corruption scandals involving individuals close to Bouteflika's own brother, Saïd. In 2013, Bouteflika (or the power behind the throne) took advantage of the terrorist attacks on In Amenas to reduce the powers of the DRS in favor of the presidency and Bouteflika's ally, the People's National Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaïd Salah.
In last February, Amar Saïdani, the secretary general of the FLN, openly called for Toufik's resignation in an interview and blamed him for letting the terrorists to organize the In Amenas hostage-taking. Saïdani's interview provoked the uproar of the DRS but also of some parts of the FLN. Bouteflika was forced to issue a press release stating that 'nobody should be entitled to slag off the People's National Army nor the other constitutional institutions of the country' and denying any split within the military.
There are debates on how to interpret the Saïdani incident, but since then the DRS has keep a low profile, possibly waiting Bouteflika's death before opening the succession struggle. However, last month, former president and retired general Liamine Zeroual
broke cover in a public letter stating in veiled terms that Bouteflika is now incapable of running the country and should not go for reelection. Zeroual also denounced Saïdani's attacks on the DRS and stated that the next president should ensure a transition process toward democracy during a last-ditch term in office. Finally, he showed his support for the protests (see below) against Bouteflika's fourth term.
The campaign is very bizarre as Bouteflika is physically unable to campaign nor to made extended television appearances. The outgoing president's campaign is managed by former prime minister (he resigned several weeks ago) Abdelmalek Sellal who previously ran Bouteflika's campaigns in 2004 and 2009. Bouteflika's partisans campaigned on the president's record in office highlighting the relative political stability the country has enjoyed in sharp contrast with the bloody 1990s. They usually portrayed other candidates, and especially Benflis, as seeking to tip Algeria into chaos.
Sellal and other prominent government are in charge of campaigning and holding the political rallies on behalf of the ghost candidate. They have met strong opposition in several places, notably in Béjaïa (Kabylie) where rioters prevented the holding of a political meeting on behalf of Bouteflika and burned down the local headquarters of the FLN.
Five other candidates managed to gather the signatures to be on the ballot. They are mostly seen as playing the role of democratic alibi as they don't have the financial means to mount a serious challenge nor have significant support inside the military establishment or amongst the population.
The most serious challenger is
Ali Benflis, 69, running as an independent with the support of a bunch of small and irrelevant parties. A former prime minister and general secretary of the FLN, Benflis ran against Bouteflika in 2004 with some hopes for success but finished a very distant second with a terrible 6.4%. For a decade, he retired from political life but returned into politics this year. There are rumors he had gain the support of some parts of the military (possibly the DRS) and he could appear as a potential successor to Bouteflika.
Politically, Benflis favors a more open economy and is more open than Bouteflika toward former members of the Islamist Salvation Front. He advocates an independent justice (he is himself a lawyer and a founder of the Algerian Human Rights' League), a new constitution, more civil and political liberties and less corruption.
Moussa Touati, 60, is running for his own Algerian National Front (FNA), a conservative and nationalist party. Touati is the founder of an organization defending the children of chouhada (the Algerians killed during the Independence War). He previously ran in 2009 (2.31%). and has threatened to withdraw from the race because he was prevented from campaigning in the town Blida (the local authorities didn't allocated him an auditorium and rather allocated it to Bouteflika's spokesman).
Louisa Hanoune, 59, is the only woman and run for the trotskyist Worker's Party. She was previously candidate in 2004 (1%) and 2009 (4.22%). She is running on a far-left platform that promises the creation of a planning ministry, the entrenchment in the Constitution of the state-ownership of the oil and gas companies and the introduction of a wealth tax. She has been criticized for spending more time attacking Benflis and denouncing alleged foreign conspiracies than actually criticizing Bouteflika.
Ali Fawzi Rebaïne, 59, is running for his own Ahd 54 (Generation 54, an allusion to the year of start of the independence war). He also ran in 2004 (0.6%) and 2009 (0.93%). A human rights militant, he is running on a vaguely social-democratic platform that promises to give priority to agriculture and to ensure food self-sufficiency. Rebaïne claims to be the only real opponent to the regime in the election. He has promised to abolish the military service and to build a state founded on the rule of law.
Abdelaziz Belaïd, 51, is both the youngest candidate and the only candidate to run for president for the first time. He led the National Union of Algerian Students from 1986 to 2007 and was a deputy for the FLN. In February 2012, he left the party to launch his own movement, the El Moustakbal Front (Front of the Future). Belaïd tries to target the young people and proposes “a Constitution adopted by the people” and an elected Constitutional Court.
Various other candidates failed to gather the required signatures (60,000 signatures of citizens or 600 signatures of elected officials). Among them, the writer Yasmina Khadra and the pretty insane Rachid Nekkaz who previously attempted unsuccessfully to run for presidency in France. Former Prime minister Ahmed Benbitour withdrew after Bouteflika announced his own candidacy and joined the Boycott Front.
The Boycott Front and the Barakat movementThe Boycott Front is formed by various opposition parties (the secularist center-left Rally for Culture and Democracy and the islamist Society Movement for Peace, Jil el-Jadid, Front for Justice and Development and Ennahda). Claiming (fairly) that the election will be rigged, they have organized several protests.
However, the novelty is the involvement of young peoples without political background into peaceful protests against Bouteflika's fourth term in office. The so-called
Barakat ('Enough') movement managed to organize several protests and is quite popular on the social networks. However, the movement is mostly formed by young people from upper middle-class and has failed to reach the larger popular class. The government has claimed Barakat is part of a foreign conspiracy and has tried to link the self-described peaceful movement to the riots in Béjaïa.
To be complete, since last December, the wilaya of Ghardaïa has been subject to communal clashes between the Mozabites (Berbers following the Ibadi Islam) and the Chaâmba (Arabs following the Maliki Islam). Several people have been killed and hundreds have been wounded. This weekend two more people have been killed. The Algerian government has been criticized for failing to restore calm.
