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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425
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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 A new page for Algeria?
By Khaled DawoudWith the support of the army's top brass, four major political parties and the powerful Algerian Workers' Union, analysts believe that former Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika has the best chance of winning the presidential elections due to be held today. But six rivals charged that Bouteflika, the military establishment's choice, was set to "hijack" the election. The six threatened to pull out unless the results of early voting by the army and security forces, which began on Tuesday and continued yesterday, were annulled.
Whatever the outcome, the heated 19-day campaign that preceded the vote showed that the majority of Algerians are eager for a genuine change and an end to seven years of violence, during which more than 80,000 people have been killed.
"All [seven] candidates are talking about a national reconciliation and turning a new page. All of them are emphasising the importance of restoring peace," said Mouad Azzouz, a government employee. He was attending a rally on Monday in the capital's Martyrs Square in support of Hocine Ait Ahmed, leader of the Socialist Forces Front, who has mainly Berber support. Although the 73-year-old Ahmed was rushed to Switzerland for medical treatment following a heart attack two weeks ago, his supporters back home have led a strong campaign on his behalf. His absence, however, has clearly undermined his chances of success.
All eyes are now on Bouteflika, whose supporters describe him as the "national consensus candidate". Four major political parties -- the ruling National Democratic Rally (RND), the influential National Liberation Front (FLN), the pro-Islamist Movement for Peaceful Society, led by Mahfouz Nahnah, and the Islamist Al-Nahda Movement -- have all announced support for Bouteflika.
More importantly, however, the army's top brass, viewed as the country's power brokers, have thrown their weight behind Bouteflika. As a result, his six rivals have issued a joint statement charging that "fraud has already begun", and called for an urgent meeting with outgoing President Liamine Zeroual.
Some analysts in Algiers believe that Bouteflika may be able to win more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round. If the results are inconclusive, a run-off round will be organised in 15 days between the two candidates who won the largest numbers of votes. In that event, Bouteflika is widely expected to be one of the two.
The six other candidates are former Foreign Minister Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, former prime ministers Mouloud Hamrouche and Mokdad Sifi, former adviser to President Zeroual Youcef Khatib, independent Islamist candidate and former Nahda Movement leader Abdallah Djaballah, as well as Ait Ahmed. They issued a joint statement on Tuesday declaring: "All the information that we have received, despite the guarantees and commitments that have been given by the army chief-of-staff, proves that an operation of fraud has begun in the itinerant polling stations and special polling stations."
Except for Khatib and Sifi, the candidates have been coordinating their campaigns since the race began in late March, hoping to balance the support the major parties have promised Bouteflika.
Djamal Zenati, who has been leading the campaign on behalf of Ait Ahmed, showed reporters a number of empty voting cards which he claimed that his supporters managed to get in order to prove the claim that "rigging has already started".
Bouteflika is proud of his history as a close associate of the late President Houari Boumedienne, who continues to be popular nearly 20 years after his death. Although he has affirmed that he was committed to the economic liberalisation policies agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bouteflika has also promised that, if elected, he will work on improving the faltering public sector and safeguarding workers' rights. Fighting rampant corruption in top government echelons has also been a principal theme in his campaign, as well as those of other candidates.
The influential, but outlawed, Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which announced its support for Ibrahimi, also has a strong presence in the election campaign. The FIS had won the majority of votes in the first round of parliamentary elections in early 1992, alarming army generals, who decided to cancel the results. The army's move sparked a violent reaction by FIS supporters and other militant Islamist groups, such as the Ar'ed Islamic Group.
In a fully-packed theatre hall, where a rally was organised on Monday in support of Ibrahimi, FIS slogans were chanted. The mothers of those whose sons went "missing" in the seven-year spree of violence were seated in the front rows, holding the pictures of their loved ones.
Ibrahimi, who spoke in perfect Arabic (many Algerians, in contrast, speak a mixture of French, Arabic, and Berber), promised that the "disappeared" would top his priorities if he won the vote. He also vowed to release thousands of Islamist detainees who have been held for years without being charged or put on trial. However, he emphasised that those who slaughtered innocent children, women and men would not be covered by the amnesty he planned to declare.
The head of the Independent National Commission for Monitoring Presidential Elections, Mohamed Bedjaoui, said in a news conference on Tuesday that he was satisfied by the measures taken so far to ensure that the elections would be fair.
