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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 March 1999 Issue No. 421 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 March 1999 Issue No. 421
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Algerian army plays with fire
By Hisham Fahim
More and more Algerian political figures, including contenders in the upcoming presidential elections on 15 April, have been denouncing the Constitutional Council's decision last week to reject the candidacy of Sheikh Mahfouz Nahnah, leader of the Islamist-oriented Movement for Peaceful Society (MPS), better known as Hamas. The Council justified its decision on the grounds that Nahnah did not take part in Algeria's 1954-62 war of independence -- a condition for candidates born before 1942.
Sheikh Mahfouz Nahnah
Nahnah came second with more than 25 per cent of the vote in the 1995 presidential election, which outgoing President Lamin Zeroual won by an overwhelming majority.
Several leading figures in the Algerian resistance war against France said in statements made to newspapers that Nahnah, 57, had indeed been a nationalist fighter.
"Officials from the National Liberation Army (ALN) have identified Nahnah as a member of the FLN (the political wing of the ALN grouping of nationalist fighters)," said Youssef Khatib, an ALN leader, in statements to the official Algerian News Agency (APS).
Mohamed Yazid, a leading figure in the FLN, also testified that Nahnah had been an independence activist.
Mouloud Hamrouche, former prime minister and a senior ALN officer, also backed Nahnah, saying his rejection smacked of political foul play. "There is no doubt that the reason for the rejection of Nahnah's presidential bid was exclusively a suspicious election trick," said Hamrouche in an APS statement.
Nahnah's MPS party is a junior partner in the current government and holds 69 seats in the 380-member parliament. The Constitutional Council did not say why Nahnah's candidacy was invalid this time round even though the election rules remain unchanged from the 1995 presidential election. The MPS branded the rejection of its leader as "cheating" and vowed to challenge it in court.
Hamrouche and Khatib are among seven politicians whose candidacies were accepted by the Council. Others include Hussein Ait-Ahmed from the secular opposition Socialist Forces Front (FFS), former foreign ministers Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika and Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi and ex-prime minister Mokdad Sifi.
Observers claim that the decision to exclude Nahnah was taken by the powerful Algerian army establishment which is reportedly backing Bouteflika. Campaigns in pro-government newspapers have been referring to Bouteflika as the "national consensus candidate," and he has reportedly conducted talks with Nahnah's MPS in order to discuss future cooperation if he won the presidency. Reports added that Bouteflika and Nahnah disagreed over the number of ministries which would be given to the MPS, leading to the breakdown of the talks.
However, some experts on Algerian affairs believe that if the decision to exclude Nahnah was taken to improve Bouteflika's chances, the move might backfire. If Nahnah's appeal against the Council's decision is rejected, he is expected to ask his supporters to back one of Bouteflika's main contenders, Ibrahimi. The latter is known for his close ties with the Islamists and has repeatedly insisted on involving the outlawed National Islamic Front (FIS) in any talks aimed at ending the ongoing bloodshed in Algeria. Many pro-Islamist votes might also go to Sheikh Abdullah Jaballah, former leader of the Islamic Nahda Party.
Nahnah is expected to meet President Zeroual during his efforts to reverse the Council's decision. Zeroual unexpectedly decided late last year to hold early elections, two years before his term officially ends. He did not give any clear reason for the decision, but observers speculated that he might have differed with key army generals on policies to deal with the Islamists and attempts to carry out major economic reforms. In recent statements, Zeroual promised to guarantee the fairness of elections and asked army generals not to intervene to favour one candidate over others.
Nahnah's supporters have also said that they will hold public rallies and demonstrations in protest at the Council's decision. Some observers fear that should Nahnah's supporters escalate their protests and take to the streets the whole election process might be endangered, renewing fears that the army might intervene to cancel the election on the pretext of restoring of law and order.
