Analysis: Algeria prepares to hold pluralist presidential elections

MELISSA BLOCK
All Things Considered (NPR)
04-07-2004
Analysis: Algeria prepares to hold pluralist presidential elections

Host: MELISSA BLOCK
Time: 8:00-9:00 PM

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Algerians will vote tomorrow in what are being touted as the country's first truly pluralist presidential elections. Six candidates are running. The Bush administration will be monitoring the elections closely, hoping they'll set an example for the wider Arab world. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Algiers.

SYLVIA POGGIOLI reporting:

At President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's final campaign rally, the crowd is mainly male and young. They cheer their leader as if he were a soccer star.

(Soundbite of campaign rally)

POGGIOLI: The president tells his supporters that only he can assure continuity, stability and national reconciliation in a country that is just now emerging from more than a decade of bloodshed and civil strife. In 1992, Algeria was trying to shed its socialist system and sow the seeds of a civil society. But the country was suddenly plunged into war after the secular army canceled parliamentary elections that an Islamist party was poised to win. Human rights activists say up to 150,000 people were killed in a brutal war between Islamist rebels and the army. In 1999, confident that terrorism had been reined in, the armed forces, which had effectively chosen all of Algeria's leaders, imposed former foreign minister Bouteflika as the man best-suited to end the country's international isolation. In these presidential elections, the army has pledged to abandon its traditional king-maker role, saying it will remain on the sidelines.

Omar Belhouchet, editor-in-chief of the opposition daily El Watan, says these elections could mark a real turning point.

Mr. OMAR BELHOUCHET (Editor-in-Chief, El Watan): (Through Translator) If the army confirms its withdrawal from politics, we will be able to steer our country toward real democratization. It would be a revolution for an entire region filled with dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.

POGGIOLI: For the first time, representatives of each political party will be present at polling stations to monitor the entire voting process. International observers will also be on hand. After years of tension and fear, there is finally a relaxed mood on the streets of Algiers. Rue de Douche Muhrad(ph) is the heart of the city. At the many Internet cafes, there are trendy young women wearing tight jeans and T-shirts, and most of the young men are clean-shaven. Zubir Muzad(ph) is a 20-year-old law student who says he's going to vote for the incumbent.

Mr. ZUBIR MUZAD (Voter): (Through Translator) He is the man, because with Bouteflika, we have seen positive changes. Most of all, I want peace.

POGGIOLI: But just a few yards down the street, a young woman who won't give her name is skeptical.

Unidentified Woman: (Foreign language spoken)

POGGIOLI: She says, `I don't trust any of the candidates. There's misery in Algeria, 30 percent unemployment, and half the population lives in poverty.'

Bouteflika's key rivals are his former prime minister, Ali Benflis; the liberal Said Sadi; and moderate Islamist Abdallah Djeballah. And unique in an Arab country, the Trotskyite Party is fielding a woman for president, Louisa Hannoun. The campaign has been very heated. The incumbent president has been courting the votes of Islamists, whose radical parties have been banned. Bouteflika granted an amnesty that freed thousands of jailed Islamist rebels, angering many intellectuals and secular associations.

Several opposition candidates, on the other hand, are courting the votes of Berbers, non-Arab Muslims said to represent 30 percent of the 32 million Algerian population. Berbers have long resisted Arabization and are demanding official recognition of their language and culture. Political analyst Arslan Chikhaoui says that along with the economy, the Berber issue will be paramount for the next president.

Mr. ARSLAN CHIKHAOUI (Political Analyst): If it's not solved, the Berber question will still disturbing the stability of the country.

POGGIOLI: Several Berber political parties have gone so far as to call for a boycott of tomorrow's elections. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Algiers.

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