Algeria's Defeated Islamists Allege Fraud; Observers Said Vote "Transparent"

 

ALGIERS (NNN-Xinhua) -- The Islamist Alliance of Green Algeria alleged that Algeria's parliamentary elections, whose result was announced on Friday, were rigged, while foreign observers said the vote was "transparent."

The Alliance of Green Algeria, gathering three Islamist parties, got only 48 seats of the 462-seat parliament, and the two government-allied parties, the National Liberation Front (FLN) and the National Democratic Rally (RND), snatched together a majority of 288 seats.

The islamist alliance accused the administration of fraud, saying that based on its observations at polling stations, the alliance should take between 80 and 100 seats, which would make it the second power in the parliament after the FLN.

Spokesman for the alliance Kamel Mida told Xinhua that "if there were not ballot stuffing for the profit of the FLN, the Green Alliance would have won the elections."

He accused that the leadership manipulated the vote by making members of the national army to vote for the ruling party FLN, adding that the alliance has submitted complaints to the National Commission for the Supervision of the Legislative Election (CNES) formed exclusively of magistrates.

However, foreign observers described the elections as " transparent." Algeria invited about 500 foreign monitors to supervise the parliamentary elections, including 150 from the European Union (EU).

Head of the EU electoral monitoring mission Jose Ignacio Salafranca, told a press conference on Saturday in the capital Algiers that the legislative elections of May 10 were organized " in generally pacific conditions", adding that "this election constitutes a first step towards reform and deepening of democracy and human rights" in the North African nation.

For his part, head of the Arab League (AL) observers mission Hanafi Wadjih, said that the parliamentary elections were " transparent, credible and well organized."

Wadjih added that the elections "were transparent, credible, as they were held in an atmosphere of free competition away from any attempt to influence the voters," and that "the mission has not registered major breaches likely to influence the smooth running of the poll."

Joaquim Alberto Chissano, head of the African Union (AU) observer mission consisting of 200 observers, said the parliamentary elections were "free, transparent, regular and fair, " while head of the monitoring mission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Habib Kaabachi said the vote was conducted in "democratic conditions and transparent and atmosphere. "

Mhand Berkouk, Director of the Strategic and Security Research Center (CRSS), told Xinhua that the failure of the Alliance of Green Algeria was the price of a mistake made by the Islamist Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) which withdrew very late from the presidential alliance.

The MSP had been part of a three-party ruling alliance created in 2005. It withdraw early this year from the alliance, and establish the Islamist Alliance of Green Algeria with Ennahda Movement (Renaissance) and El-Islah Movement (Reform), to take advantage of the emerging Islamist trend in the region.

The MSP is without credibility in the eyes of the voters and ultimately lost the elections, Berkouk said.

He added that the Front of Justice and Development and the Front of Change, two other Islamist parties "did not have enough time to organize their parties and attract more supporters ahead of the elections, as they were established only in last April". -- NNN-XINHUA