Strikes, High Prices, Boycotters to destroy May Elections

Algeria’s upcoming electoral campaign will be tough for candidates, due to the series of strikes that would be launched, high prices of food, collapse of the purchasing power, false promises of candidates, and calls for boycott, as they have to convince citizens of the importance to participate in the polls.

The first thing that surrounds the campaign, is a wave of strikes that affects the social front, particularly the strike by syndicates of education, health and community groups and justice, this latter sector, continues striking for a sixth, as the deputy of the National Council for justice “S. M” told Echorouk that their strike ‭will ‭continue until‬ reaching ‬response ‭to the demands of ‭the sector, ‭adding that ‭the option ‭of sit-ins outside ‭the judicial councils will remain in place, and asserting that the electoral campaign will not undermine their decision to continue ‭the strike ‭. ‬

Head of the Syndicate of Common Sectors, Ali Bahari, told Echorouk, that government and the ministry and even the syndicates excluded their demands of the draft law with the knowledge that the common sectors are representing 130.000 employees of the Education Sector.

In ‭Health ‭sector , the strike of ‭common services also ‭continues,‭ ‬ and syndicates of specialist doctors ‭and practitioners of‭ ‬Health, threaten of launching back an open strike‭ to paralyze hospitals again. ‬

Apart from the threats of syndicates of vital sectors, the purchasing power of citizens notices a remarkable deterioration, as the class of contractors who represent about 3 million retired threatened to launch open-ended protests, if the percentage of retirement will not increase to15%, as the federation confirms that the recent increases were destroyed by high prices, ‭and ‭the government has to review the salaries‭. ‬

The prices of the most important food products, particularly fruit and vegetables notice a crazy rising, as the price of potatoes reached, since more than 15 days 90 dinars, and its current price reaches between 100 and 130 AD. Potatoes price did not come down despite promises of the Ministry of Agriculture‭ to solve the problem.

Representative of the Federation of Merchants and Craftsmen, Boulanouar Taher, told Echorouk that the price of potatoes will drop later this month in the wholesale markets, but the price of retail markets may not go under 60 dinars.

Potatoes are not the only vegetable that noticed a high price, all kinds of vegetables are no longer available for the simple citizen with less than 50 dinars, except the price of onions, estimated at 35 dinars per kilo, as prices of legumes are also high, while in some areas there is a fluctuation in the distribution of milk bags.

The most important problem that haunts candidates, and is considered a bomb which targets the success of elections is the call to boycott and the reluctance of citizens to vote, along with lack of conviction, and the party of “boycotters” expanded its map, in light of the social problems of citizens ‭in ‭Algeria, continuous ‭concerns, ‭the low ‭purchasing power, and also turbulence of the ‭normal conduct of the ‭electoral campaign‭. ‬