For whom will soldiers vote in Algeria?

Ahead of the presidential elections due to be held on April 17th, debate is raised about the military institution’s votes amid politicians. The question is how many votes there are, how do they vote and for who?

According to unofficial figures, the number of military voters is estimated at around 800,000. Because of that, a big difference can be made if they vote for the same candidate out of six.

Official spokesman for independent candidate Ali Beflis’ electoral campaign department Lotfi Boumghar believes that soldiers’ voting does not represent any danger for the next elections credibility.

“As it is known, soldiers do not vote in barracks anymore. They vote in ordinary centers. This is an important development,” he told Echorouk on the phone on Wednesday.

“Vice-defense minister and chief of staff Gaid Saleh said the military institutions will keep the same distance from all the candidates. We trust this commitment as long as there are no instructions which violate this commitment and hit the elections credibility,” he added.

“Soldiers are like any other Algerian people. They have their political convictions,” he also said.

Representative of Justice and Development Front Lakhdar Benkhelaf stresses the necessity of reopening debate about overstated collective registration of the military institution’s individuals which was done ahead of the last legislative elections.

“We warned of that registration at that time. Yet, the administration rejected our warnings. We understood through this elections result why the government insisted on that registration,” he told Echorouk.