Interview- Interior minister: no one can mislead Bouteflika
No minister can dare mislead the President of the Republic neither can hey spoil his program. Reshuffle will touch prefects who had bad relations with people. Assessment of mayor and municipal assembly’s activities will be announced directly after Thursday’s local elections, Algerian interior minister Dahou Ould Kablia told Echorouk in an interview.
The minister said an investigation was opened in corruption-related cases. Every candidate prosecuted by justice will be banned from municipal and provincial assemblies even if he or she wins the forthcoming elections.
Voting by proxy will be limited to army’s members and will not touch other corpses.
Speaking about social affairs, Ould Kablia said the government did not declare war on street vendors but it wants to integrate them.
He also said Algeria will not participate in the military intervention in Mali and it expects a lot from France on President’s Hollande due to be paid to Algiers in December.
He believes that Libya would not ask Algeria to extradite Gaddafi’s family once again. “Algeria rejects any foreign dictation either about Mali or any other issue,” he said.
Speaking about Thursday’s local elections, the interior minister said the 52 parties are not all represented in lists expect FLN and RND which are represented in about 1,500 municipalities.
He believes that the large number of parties had a positive impact on the electoral campaign and raised competition.
Asked about some candidates who have antecedents, Ould Kablia said an assessment will be carried out to make decisions about those candidates. “Many accusations are related to non respect of laws. Investigations showed that there were 4 corruption cases out of 246 notifications about elected people. Public properties transfers is an accusation but it is impossible to confirm if they are penal or administrative wrongdoings. There are 51 cases of wrongdoings in public deals signature. Most of the elected people were acquitted by justice.”
Asked about reasons behind the accreditation of 31 new parties, the interior minister said the law gave accreditation to those parties due to changes to conditions of forming political parties.
He added that small parties which will not be elected will have to reinforce themselves in the next five years pending for the next elections date. “Those which fail to do that will have to quit.”
Speaking about old parties which are in illegal situation, he said the government suspended 4 parties because of internal conflicts. “We are examining some others.”
A total of 7 billion DZ was allocated to the legislative and local elections. The money included voting cards printing and transparent ballots purchasing.
Compared to legislative elections circumstances, army’s members voted by proxy. “A total of 30,000 members of the Popular National army voted by proxy,” said the minister.
He holds Parliament responsible for permitting people with antecedents to run for elections. “After we presented elections draft bill, changes were made in order to ban candidates with antecedents. Yet, the ban is applied when there is a final sentence. When the sentence is issued, candidates with precedents will be dismissed either at municipal or provincial assemblies. They do not enjoy immunity.”
Ould Kablia expects that the turnover will be estimated at 40 percent. “These expectations are based on a previous turnover. We believe that many factors changed. Because of that, a larger turnover can be expected.”
A member in the elections surveillance commission accused his counterparts of using money in affairs out of electoral operation.
“This man was banned from the commission and his remarks are not reliable. I believe that the commission’s president sued him.”
Speaking about possible fraud, the minister said he gave instructions to ensure transparency and impartiality in Thursday’s elections. “I focused on the necessity of keeping a distance between the administration and the electoral operation. I ordered polling station members to submit copies of sorting minutes to each electoral list representative. Municipal electoral commission presidents will have to give an authentic copy of census minutes to every list representative.
Asked about constitutional amendment, Ould Kablia said President Bouteflika ordered to set up a commission in charge of examining the current constitution. “If amendments touch balance between powers, the constitution will certainly be presented for a popular referendum.”
Speaking about parties which believe that Algeria’s political reforms failed, the minister said those parties aim at hitting the State’s credibility. “Some little parties criticize the reforms to put pressure. Many things have changed. People feel that in the reforms which did not touch political field only but also in economy, industrial and agricultural investment.”
He also said the interior ministry received complaints about corruption. An investigation was opened. Some of the complaints were real but others were no more than personal accounts settlement.
Asked about ministers accused by President Bouteflika of misleading him, Ould Kablia said no minister can dare misleading the president of the republic through false figures.
He also said figures show that 65,000 informal markets in Algeria. “There are about 400 proximity markets which can contain about 40,000 vendors.”
The government plans three steps to integrate street vendors. Before December 31st, about 7,800 vendors will be integrated. In the first trimester of 2013, a total of 28,000 shops will be allocated while 30,000 others will be provided in the third step.
According to the minister, the government allocated 467 billion DZ to local development programs. Of it, 65 billion DZ is allocated for 2012. “That enabled to achieve many projects related to urban development, equipments, schooling, property and others as part of local development.”
“A total of 3,759 billion DZ is allocated to joint funds of local development support.”
Asked about the Mali issue, Ould Kablia said Algeria’s position is clear and direct. “Algeria is against military intervention and prefers peaceful and political solution based on territorial unity in Mali.”
He added that Algeria makes efforts to unify Ansar Eddine and Touaregs’ vision to start a dialogue with the Malian government.
“There is no other position. Algeria will never participate in a military action in Mali. This comes from the Algerian constitution which prohibits war meant to hit other people’s sovereignty.”
“The Constitution’s article No 28 stipulates that Algeria should make efforts to support international cooperation and develop friendly relations between nations. This is based on equality, mutual interest, non interference in domestic affairs and the UN principles. This not a personal issue but a question of principles and constitution,” said the interior minister.
Speaking about French President’s expected visit to Algeria, Ould Kablia said Algerians living in France should be respected.
He believes that democratic system in France does not allow the president to make decisions by himself. Economic institutions should be involved in decisions making. “Yet, the French president can encourage, cooperate or support.”