Bouteflika’s new re-election bid strips 2014 presidential polls of their flavour
The decision by incumbent President Abdellaziz Bouteflika to vie for a fourth straight mandate at the helm of the nation as part of next April’s presidential elections in Algeria has literally stripped the upcoming electoral contest of any flavour and competitiveness, according to most political analysts.
This latter surmise that President Bouteflika’s re-election bid, despite his frail health, will doubtless damper the spirits of the other contenders and lead to a wider boycott of the forthcoming polls slated for April 17th 2014.
Political analysts also brought to the fore the unusual way such a re-election decision was made public as it was announced by a close ally of incumbent Bouteflika namely Prime Minister Abdel Malek Sellal who also acts as chairman of the national commission in charge of preparing the next presidential elections.
Sellal argued that Bouteflika is “quite healthy and has the necessary vision to carry on the duty during a fourth term in office.”
Sellal should have kept a neutral position and should not have extolled the merits of Bouteflika’s candidacy alluding by the same token that the latter’s sweeping victory in the April 17 presidential polls is a foregone conclusion to the detriment of all the other rival contenders, they remarked.
They further suggested that the current political establishment will now prod certain low-profile political figures to run in the next presidential race as mere “rabbits” in order to clear the way for a well-orchestrated and massive election plebiscite for Bouteflika on D. Day in order to taint it with credibility in the eyes of the national and international public opinions.
It should be noted meanwhile that the Algerian presidential election scheduled for April 17th will take place without the Islamists.
Islamist party Justice and Development Front (FJD, or El Adala) on Saturday called for the poll to be postponed.
Along with Fellow Islamist parties Ennahda and Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP), El Adala had already announced a boycott of the poll.
This is the first time since the advent of multi-party politics in Algeria at the beginning of the 1990s that Islamist parties have all withdrawn from a presidential election.
Still, FJD leader Abdellah Djaballah rejected the suggestion that the Islamist movement in Algeria had seen a marked decline since its poor showing in the May 2012 legislative elections.
The decision to boycott the election “does not mean that our power is weakened”, Djaballah told the press Saturday.
The 2012 legislative and local election may have demonstrated to the Islamists “the impossibility of achieving their political ambitions through the electoral process”.
Ennahda leader Mohamed Douibi, meanwhile, blamed “the authorities, who have pushed the opposition to adopt radical stances by opting for a boycott”.
The Islamists’ move “stems from the fact that these parties no longer have the same ability to attract Algeria’s young people and voters,” some political analysts said.
“Cohesion and unity are two weaknesses of the Islamist parties,” he added. “The Islamist parties are like brothers who are enemies and will not sit down at the same table to overcome their differences,” they added.
Some observers see however the brandished election boycott as a way for the flagging parties to save face.