Algerians worried by an outbreak of political violence choose a new Parliament on Thursday, but many doubt whether the politically weak institution can do much to stabilise the troubled country.
The presidency is the most powerful office of state in Algeria, a supplier of oil and gas to North America and Europe, and Algerians tend to believe the Assembly is dominated by the powerful executive and exists to rubber-stamp its decisions.
”Algerians have a disastrous image of Parliament,” wrote Ali Bahmane, a columnist at El Watan daily. ”I wouldn’t be surprised if they express their rejection of a non-independent and useless Assembly by not going to vote.”
The polls to choose the 389 members of the Lower House of Parliament are the third since an Islamist revolt erupted after the cancellation of a general election in January 1992, which a now-outlawed Muslim fundamentalist party was poised to win.
Up to 200 000 people have been killed in political bloodshed since then, and while the violence has dropped sharply in recent years, a recent spate of bombings by Islamist armed groups has threatened the North African country’s attempts to rebuild.
A triple suicide bombing claimed by al-Qaeda killed 33 in Algiers on April 11, raising fears of a return to 1990s-style violence. But social problems are still Algerians’ main concern.
Secretive elite
Opponents accuse a secretive political establishment of squandering large oil and gas export revenues while unemployment among adults under 30 is at a worrying 75% and few employed people earn more than 25 000 dinars ($352) a month.
From the congested capital, Algiers, to the Saharan oil and gas towns of Adrar and Hassi Messaoud, up to 18-million voters will choose among 12 229 candidates from 24 political parties and independents to steer the Assembly for the next five years.
The National Liberation Front (FLN) is expected to keep its position as the largest single party, with the pro-government Rally for National Democracy (RND) likely to take second place.
The FNL has 199 seats in the outgoing Assembly and the RND has 47. Together with a moderate Islamist party they form a tripartite government coalition.
One of the oldest opposition parties, the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), is boycotting the polls, saying they are unlikely to be transparent and Parliament serves little purpose. The secular FFS, the main political force in the Berber-speaking Kabylie region, also boycotted the previous legislative elections in 2002.
Parliament has never thrown out an entire draft law proposed by the government and has never set up a commission of inquiry.
Al-Qaeda’s North Africa wing, which claimed the April 11 bombings, called on Algerians to boycott the elections, which it condemned as a ”farce”, al-Jazeera television reported. Some observers expect the rebels to try to disrupt the polling.
Many parties based their campaigns on praising President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has crushed most of the Islamic radical movements and attracted much-needed foreign investment.
Mahmoud Belhimer, an editor at El Khabar daily, said: ”Whatever the turnout and whoever the winner, there won’t be major changes in promoting democracy in Algeria and the National Assembly will remain a tool in the government’s hands.” — Reuters