Algerian parties satisfied with election date

23/02/2007

The Algerian legislative elections will take place on May 17th. Many Algerian parties reacted favourably to the adherence to constitutional deadlines.

By Lyes Aflou for Magharebia in Algiers – 23/02/07

[Getty Images] An Algerian woman in Tizi-Ouzou votes in the 2002 elections. Algerians will go to the polls on May 17th.

The countdown to the Algerian legislative elections began with an announcement by the interior ministry that voting will take place on May 17th, less than two weeks before the mandate of parliament expires. The announcement was received positively by Algerian political parties, who welcomed the adherence to constitutional deadlines.

Prospective candidates have until April 1st to submit their documents. They will compete for 380 seats in the People's National Assembly (APN), the lower house of Algeria's bicameral parliament. A communiqué by the interior ministry urged unregistered voters to complete their registration before Wednesday (February 28th), when the revision of the country's electoral lists will end.

Most Algerian parties have expressed their satisfaction with the announcement.

The head of the National Liberation Front (FLN) bloc in the APN, Said Bouhadja, said the setting of the election date "within the prescribed period can only encourage the political class … In the FLN, we are ready to defend and hold our position within the popular Assembly." Bouhadja, whose party won 190 seats in the 2002 election, felt that respecting deadlines strengthens the country's constitutions.

Djelloul Djoudi, the head of the far left Workers’ Party bloc, hoped the election will take place "peacefully". He said he hopes the elections will be "free and transparent, giving citizens a free choice … This is a significant turning point in the life of the Algerian nation, which must help to find solutions to the country’s problems," he said, adding that his party, currently undergoing restructuring and reorganisation, is ready to face this date with the electorate.

Djemaa Nacer, spokesman for Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP) bloc, expressed his party’s readiness to "throw itself into this peaceful democratic competition to continue the work to confirm moves towards peace and national reconciliation". He stressed the need to take "greater measures to guarantee transparent and regular elections, calling on the administration to demonstrate impartiality and to be careful to guarantee voters’ rights and to respect the will of the people and its democratic choice of programmes and representatives."

The MSP, a moderate Islamist party that won 7% of the vote in 2002, is part of the ruling coalition with the FLN and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's National Rally for Democracy (RND). RND spokesperson Miloud Chourfi expressed the party's satisfaction regarding the organisation of this important date within the rules set out in the constitution.

The Kabylia-based Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) said they will participate in the upcoming elections. The secularist party, which boycotted the 2002 elections, said that May 17th "is an opportunity to put Algeria on the path to consensual development".

"The ballot will consolidate the stability of the state in that the issue of legitimacy is the cornerstone of the whole institutional structure," political scientist Mahmoud Aghilassi said. "This leads to the confidence of the public who choose their representatives with total freedom, people who will represent them within the legislative courts, thanks to the mechanism of universal suffrage," he added.

The national assembly is elected for five-year terms through proportional representation. Eight seats are reserved for Algerians abroad.