Global News Post: Algeria

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

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For his part, head of the Arab League (AL) observers mission Hanafi Wadjih, said that the parliamentary elections were " transparent, credible and well organized."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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. "<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The MSP is without credibility in the eyes of the voters and ultimately lost the elections, Berkouk said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: kashida; text-kashida: 0%;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">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<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

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 ann...

Algeria Voter Turnout Higher Than Expected, Islamists Seen to Gain Ground

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ALGIERS (NNN-alarabiya): Algerian authorities announced a relatively high turnout for Thursday’s legislative polls despite widespread mistrust disaffection that marked the campaign as moderate Islamists are expected to gain large share of seats in the parliament, easing pressure for change in a country left behind by last year’s “Arab Spring.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Global turnout, national territory and diaspora combined, stands at 42.9 percent,” Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia told reporters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Turnout hit a record low of 35 percent in polls in 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Despite the official turnout figure, many polling stations in Algiers seemed largely deserted and the overwhelming majority of voters were elderly but the state reported the highest turnouts in remote border regions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s National Liberation Front (FLN), the former single party, and its two government allies, including the country’s main legal Islamist party, were confident of victory.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But a strong performance for Islamists would bring Algeria, which supplies about one fifth of Europe’s natural gas imports, into line with Arab neighbors who have seen Islamists come to power after last year’s uprisings.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In contrast to countries such as Egypt and Tunisia, the Islamists seeking office in Algeria are firmly part of the establishment, have no radical agenda and are unlikely to try to undo the ruling elite’s grip on power.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Algeria’s rulers responded to the upheavals in neighboring countries by promising its own people an “Algerian Spring” - a managed process of reform, with the election as the first step.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The young people will make an Algerian Spring in this election,” said Bouguera Soltani, whose mildly Islamist “Green Alliance” coalition is tipped to become one of the biggest forces in the new parliament.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The 2012 parliament is different from the previous ones because it will have new prerogatives. People who boycott (the vote) will regret it,” he said on Thursday as he voted near his home in Staoueli, a town west of the capital.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But many believe real power lies with an informal network commonly known by the French term “le pouvoir,” or “the power,” which is unelected, has been around for years and has its roots in the security forces. Officials deny this network exists.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yacine Zaid, a human rights activist and opponent of the ruling elite, said he thought the election was “a masquerade, a circus. ... The authorities have always dared to do what they want, to give whatever figures are in their head.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, there is little appetite for a revolt. Energy revenues have lifted living standards and people look with alarm at the bloodshed in neighboring Libya after its insurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In Algeria, a conflict in the 1990s between security forces and Islamist insurgents, which killed an estimated 200,000 people, still casts a shadow. The fighting started after the military-backed government annulled an election which hardline Islamists were poised to win. -NNN-alarabiya<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Algeria Voter Turnout Higher Than Expected, Islamists Seen to Gain Ground

ALGIERS (NNN-alarabiya): Algerian authorities announced a relatively high turnout for Thursday’s legislative polls despite widespread mistr...

May 10 Election an Important Event for Algeria: Political Parties

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">  </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">ALGIERS (NNN-APS) -- The importance of the legislative elections of May 10 for Algeria's future and its democracy, was the central theme of the speeches of political parties' leaders on the 17th day of election campaign. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In their campaigning speeches the leaders pledges to improve the living conditions of citizens if they win. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In a meeting in Biskra (425-km south of Algiers), the secretary general of the Workers' Party (PT), Louisa Hanoune said that the upcoming election is an "opportunity to break with the single doctrine approach, corruption, vote-catching and nepotism, and move to a new era." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For his part, the secretary general of the National Republican Rally (ANR), Belkacem Sahli called from Timgad (Batna, 435-km east of Algiers) for a high turnout in the legislative elections, adding that those who will abstain from voting would "turn their back on Algeria." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">On this occasion, Sahli warned Algerian young people against "all those who call for boycott while they live abroad and far from the everyday life of people". <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Officials of the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) called Tuesday in Algiers Algerian workers to participate massively in the elections of May 10 to stand in the way of the enemies of Algeria.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"The election on May 10 is an opportunity to answer to the enemy within and outside namely at the borders targeting the stability of Algeria," said national secretary in charge of training at the central union Hachemi Benmouhoub in a speech on the occasion of the celebration of International Workers’ Day of the House of People.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To Benmouhoub "the events that occurred at the border aimed at undermining the country's stability," that is why, he said, we believe that "the continuation of the struggle during and after the election is opportunity to challenge everyone."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">With 44 political parties and independents competing for seats in next parliament that counts 462 "does not scare the union because the emulation aims to improve the country's internal affairs," he added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Benmouhoub reminded the activist course of martyrs of the Revolution and duty including former secretary general of the UGTA Abdelhak Benhamouda.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He also recalled the events that Algeria experienced in the 1990s and their impact on workers with "the loss of 500,000 jobs."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Secondly, he referred to the concerns of the trade union for the next step in "rebuilding the Union with militants acting and not spectators before the reality of workers."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The trade union, he said, will focus on training its activists which is a challenge for the oldest trade union organization in Algeria particularly following the accusations of Autonomous Trade Unions against it. -- NNN-APS</span></div>

May 10 Election an Important Event for Algeria: Political Parties

ALGIERS (NNN-APS) -- The importance of the legislative elections of May 10 for Algeria's future and its democracy, was the centr...