Algeria invites international observers to presidential elections

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika called upon four international organisations to watch the upcoming presidential elections in the country, prime ministry said Sunday.

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• “The government, following the directives of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has submitted a demand to the United Nations, the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the African Union to send international observers for the April 2008 presidential elections,” said the ministry’s statement.
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• Algeria’s invitation comes as opposition parties reject to take part in the presidential competition unless foreign observers are allowed to watch it.
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• In the last presidential elections won by Bouteflika in 2004, international observers were not invited as the government and political parties found it unnecessary.
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• Bouteflika, reaching the end of his second and final term changed the Constitution to put no limit for a president to be re-elected.
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• The leader of a major political party said the president would announce run for office by late February or early March 2009.
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• Bouteflika’s allies believe the new constitution would promote freedoms and democracy in Algeria while opposition says he uses it as a trick to stay in power.