Experts in Echourouk Forum: Islamists failed short but not the ideology

At he moment where the Islamic parties have gained momentum in the Arab countries like Egypt , Tunisia, Morocco and Libya, their influence has waned significantly in Algeria over the last few years raising several questions over the future prospects of the Islamic project in the North African country.

• Some experts with close knowledge with this phenomenon have asserted that the Islamic project has reached a stalemate in Algeria blaming its advocates for this failure. Others do not share this theory and accuse the regime of fomenting against the Islamist by doctoring the results of the votes.
• Echourouk brought together several personalities known for their bias to the Islamic ideology and prominent experts in a forum over “ The future of the Islamic project in Algeria”, with a view to discussing the real reasons behind the setbacks of the Islamists.
• Who said that the Islamic project has failed?
• Most of the participants agreed that the Islamic project didn’t fail and will not, ,despite the setbacks and the defeats of the Islamic parties. Azeddine Djezzafa, one of the founders of Ennahdha movement has indicated that the Islamists have become a key actor in the political scene and should be counted with locally and abroad.
• Boudjemaa Ayad, one of the founders of the Movement for Society of Peace that departed in the mid 1990s , said that the project is too old to be threatened, noting that Islam is deeply rooted in the Algerian society, the proof is that mosques are built in the most remote and tiny regions of the country.
• The parliamentarian Abdelghani Boudebbouz has indicated that the Islamic project is entering a new phase that requires coalitions, noting that his movement calls on the parties either those approved by the authorities or not to join forces.
• The University teacher Zoubir Arrous has noted that the Islamic trend is a historical truth in Algeria and played a key role. The Islamists have to bear in mind that they are not alone on the political scene and should take into account the pluralistic vision of the Algerian society.
• For his part, the Professor Ourari Boudjemaa said” The Islamic trend has to acknowledge that it failed short and should accept criticism. He stressed on the necessity to differentiate between the trend and the political parties that do not represent it all because they are only part of it”.
• The regime understood the Islamists
• Most of the participants to the forum agreed that the dissentions that surfaced among the Islamic parties have undermined the project and played the game of the regime. Doctor Yahia Djaaferi noted that the regime has evaluated the threat of the Islamic trend and worked relentlessly on taming the weak parties with the exclusion of the hardliners”.
• One of the leaders of the banned Islamic party ( FIS) Al Hachemi Sahnouni has accused the regime of undermining democracy n the country by stopping the electoral process “ People lay the blame on us and accuse the Islamists of being part of the crisis, but reality is that we entered the electoral race and presented a program but they stopped the electoral process”.