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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 April 1999 Issue No. 426 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 April 1999 Issue No. 426
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Special Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters 'The game was up'
By Khaled DawoudFormer Foreign Minister Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, a moderate and a pro-Islamist, was seen as the main competitor in the presidential race against the government-backed candidate, Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika. Despite his decision to boycott the balloting, he came second with 1.25 million votes.
Why did the six candidates decide to withdraw from the elections?
When we discovered that the game was up and that rigging reached unbearable limits, we decided to withdraw. I have personally repeatedly announced that I would not take part in an electoral scandal. We were given assurances by the president and the top army leadership that we were going to have free and fair elections. Our decision was to continue as long as there was a trend inside the ruling establishment supporting neutrality. We were hoping that this trend would win, but when we discovered that rigging had already started in mobile and army polling stations, we recognised that the trend supporting a particular candidate had prevailed and decided to pull out. We refused to be party to an exercise that denies the Algerian people the right to express themselves freely in fair elections.But critics of your decision said that you could have waited until the elections took place and then protested through legal channels.
You want us to be used as a cover by the regime so that it can claim that elections were free and fair. We totally reject this. We decided to withdraw after the elections had already started in the southern parts of the country, in army units and among Algerians abroad. We received reports from sympathisers inside the regime -- and that is a positive development which happened for the first time -- that Algerian officers were sent abroad to press Algerians to vote for one particular candidate. We voiced our complaints, but we did not find any response, either from the army or the Independent Monitoring Committee. However, the question which should be asked is that if the law did not allow us to withdraw shortly before the voting started, does it allow rigging and falsifying the will of the voters? I believe the reason why the quarters favouring a particular candidate ordered massive rigging is that they felt threatened by the great popularity of the ideas spread in my rallies in 35 welayat.You were described as the FIS candidate during your election campaign. How true is this claim?
The dispute I have with the decision-makers in Algeria dates back to 1992. Since then, I have been calling for reconciliation and national dialogue in order to restore peace, security and stability. But their style was eradication and violence. This policy has failed and violence continues. An indication of the failure of this policy was Zeroual's resignation after he refused this policy of eradication and violence. But my call for reconciliation and dialogue among all Algerians, as long as they respect the law and the constitution, was supported by the majority of Algerians, including members of the National Liberation Front (FLN) and many Islamists. The dispute I have with the decision-makers is that I was calling for the transfer of power by peaceful means, while they wanted to continue their policy of appointing the president. Those decision-makers are known and we cannot allow four or five people alone to always decide who is to become Algeria's president.But what about your links with the FIS?
I repeat that I am in favour of dialogue among all Algerians who believe in the peaceful transfer of power and reject violence, in order to reach office or to remain in it. Yet, reconciliation does not mean that there will be no punishment for those who committed crimes, killed children and raped women. Those people must be tried. Meanwhile, reconciliation should not mean ignoring a number of important factors, such as that of the missing people whose families remain unable to determine their fate, or other crimes (carried out by the regime) over the past 10 years.And how do you see the future now, after Bouteflika has officially been declared Algeria's president?
Appointing a president who has no legitimacy will deepen the crisis rather than solve it. For their part, the six candidates will continue their coordination and consultations to take the proper decisions in line with upcoming developments. This will also happen in coordination with our supporters who turned out during the campaigning, until we manage to achieve real change through which the people can freely express themselves.
