Presidential election campaign kicks off in Algeria

By Faro Laz
Presidential election campaign kicks off in Algeria

Algeria kicks off presidential campaign, 5 candidates to run By Aomar Ouali, was published yesterday by AP.

Presidential election campaign kicks off in Algeria
The five candidates for the upcoming Dec. 12, presidential election, from left to right, Azzedine Mihoubi, Abdelmajid Tebboune, Abdelkader Bengrina, Ali Benflis and Abdelaziz Belaid pose prior to a media conference in Algier, Algeria, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2019. Algeria’s presidential campaign is officially starting on Sunday with five candidates vying to replace the longtime leader pushed out in April in an ongoing protest movement. (AP Photo/Fateh Guidoum)

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria’s presidential campaign officially kicked off Sunday with five candidates vying to replace the country’s longtime leader, who was pushed out in April amid sustained protests.

Two former prime ministers, Ali Benflis and Abdelmadjid Tebboune, are among those running in the Dec. 12 election to succeed former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Big crowds took to the streets Friday for a 39th consecutive week to demand an end to Algeria’s post-colonial political system. Protesters say they don’t trust those currently in power to ensure democratic elections, citing their past links to Bouteflika.

Benflis and Tebboune are considered the favorites of the vote.

The other candidates are: former tourism minister and moderate Islamist Abdelkader Bengrina; former culture minister and current interim secretary of the RND party that was in the governing coalition, Azzedine Mihoubi; and Belaid Abdelaziz, who heads the small El Moustakbel (Future) party that’s close to the FLN, both of which remain part of the ruling coalition.

In some neighborhoods of Algiers, protesters have hung black trash bags on billboards featuring the candidates’ portraits, often sprayed with the words “election of shame” and “traitors.”

Benflis said this week that “this election is not held in ideal conditions, I know that, but I consider it is the shorter and less risky path to get Algeria out of the political impasse caused by the former regime.”

Tebboune acknowledged the “special climate” of the electoral process. Speaking on television earlier this month, he justified his candidacy by saying he wanted to “put Algeria back on good tracks.”

“Some Algerians are against the election, but I know a majority are for it,” he said.

Army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah, who has emerged as the country’s authority figure, repeatedly vowed that “all security conditions will be met so that Algerians can fulfill their electoral duty in full serenity.”

At almost the same time, reactions were quick to pounce back after the announcement of the launch of this election that caused a stir in all segments of the Algerian society.

In a statement released and signed by Said Salhi, the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) calls for the cancellation of this presidential election of December 12.

For the LADDH, S. Salhi urges the cancellation of this election which risks undermining the country’s national cohesion. Excerpts of the press release talk of “No to elections that undermine national unity and cohesion. In the aftermath of yesterday’s November 15 historic march, which saw a massive parade in 46 provinces, the government does not seem to back down, on the contrary, it maintains its coup de force, and multiplies the provocation at the risk of going to a certain confrontation with the population that is resolved, to peacefully defending its peaceful revolution.”