Ali Benflis: ‘Ballot-rigging was the winner in 2004 presidential elections’

The main rival to incumbent President Bouteflika says fraud will be his main opponent in the upcoming presidential elections in Algeria.

Ali Benflis, the main challenger to ailing but favorite incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algeria’s presidential election, said his main foe in the April 17 polls will be ballot-rigging.

“Fraud is my principal adversary,” said Benflis who was largely beaten in the 2004 election by Bouteflika.

The two men had been close during Bouteflika’s first five-year term between 1999 and 2004, before they split and Benflis was sacked as prime minister in 2003.

“It must be remembered that in 2004 fraud was victorious and democracy was the loser,” added Ali Benflis.

Bouteflika, standing against five other candidates, was re-elected in 2004 with 85 percent of the vote. Benflis came second with just six percent.

“This time, I have a system in place that will fight fraud, with 60,000 observers for 60,000 polling stations,” Benflis said.

“They will be there to monitor and expose any instances of fraud and will see to it that the vote returns will announced before officialdom,” he said Monday on the campaign trail in the provinces of Tiaret and Tissemsilt in western Algeria.

Benflis is Bouteflika’s main opponent in the election, in which the serving president is conspicuous by his absence.

Nevertheless, the 77-year-old remains the firm favorite, despite being too sick to campaign and barely leaving home after a minor stroke confined him to hospital in Paris for three months last year.

A frail-looking Bouteflika appeared on state television on March 3, his voice barely audible, to announce he would seeking a fourth term despite concerns about his capacity to govern.

Analysts say the president’s absence from the campaign is unlikely to make any difference in a country where previous elections have been marred by patchy turnout and allegations of fraud.

In related news, President Bouteflika’s camp called off an election rally in the Bejaia region of eastern Algeria on Saturday after a television crew and several journalists on assignment there were assaulted by an angry mob of anti-government protesters. Four of them were injured, one seriously.