On the eve of an election that promises to be a democratic landmark
for Algeria, the feelings of excitement and suspense were tinged
with trepidation on Wednesday.
For the first time in the history of the north African country, no one can predict for certain who will win on Thursday, in an election that has come down to a duel between President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his former right-hand man, Ali Benflis, with four other candidates biting at their heels.
Polling day approaches after a lively "American-style" campaign underpinned by a host of changes that set this election apart from any previous vote, even since multi-party politics was allowed.
This time, the military has declared neutrality; electoral laws have been liberalized so that votes will have a paper trail; some 120 international observers will be present -- all firsts in Algeria.
For the first time since independence more than four decades ago, many Algerians sense that their vote can make a difference, after being in the habit of assuming in the past that the military made the real choices.
"The fact that the candidates are still there means that in the minds of the candidates, the elections are still worth contesting," Pasqualina Neapoletano, head of the European Parliament observer team told reporters on Tuesday.
But past experience, especially for politicians outside the military establishment that arose from the 1954-62 war of independence, has fueled fears that the new democratic experiment will flop.
Most observers agree that suspicions would arise, given the distribution of support among the six candidates, if Bouteflika wins outright on Thursday by garnering more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.
A joint communique issued Tuesday by the president's three main rivals --Benflis, Islamic candidate Abdallah Djaballah and Said Sadi, a secularist -- alleged a "plot" was being hatched in which Bouteflika's camp would claim victory with 53 to 55 percent of the vote before all the ballots were counted.
The tabloid press, quoting "very reliable sources," described a Machiavellian series of events in which state television would first announce phony results Thursday evening, followed by the staging of massive street celebrations and a bloody crackdown on the expected backlash.
"Without the ballots, a putsch!" screamed the front page of the daily Le Soir.
The swirling charges as the clock ticks down to Thursday's polls are reminiscent of the atmosphere ahead of the 1999 election that brought Bouteflika to power. Then, all six of his rivals -- who included Djaballah -- pulled out the day before, claiming that vote-rigging was already in full swing.
The private newspaper Liberte said Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni would be coerced into playing the role of "big orchestrator of the electoral hold-up." Ahmed Fattani, publisher of the daily L'Expression, said a first-round win by Bouteflika was likely, given his popularity and his efforts to end the traumatizing civil war that has claimed some 150,000 lives in the north African country of 32 million people since 1992.
Bouteflika "has done things that aren't bad. He could do better, but in terms of security, now you can go out at night. There was a time when there were 500 people killed a day," Fattani told AFP.
While the president deserves to be re-elected in the first round, if he has to face an unprecedented run-off vote two weeks from now, "then we'll be in a real democracy," Fattani said.
He compared the two scenarios to the difference between black and white and color television. "Which would you want?" he asked.
Fattani's L'Expression on Wednesday ran an interview with Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, a respected former foreign minister who was one of the six candidates who withdrew in 1999.
"Everything depends on the conditions on the day of the vote," Ibrahimi said. "In my opinion, if there is no fraud, a second round is inevitable." Neapoletano, for her part, said that if one candidate wins in a landslide, or just over 50 percent, "that will mean that something's wrong. We're not stupid." - Sapa-AFP.
For the first time in the history of the north African country, no one can predict for certain who will win on Thursday, in an election that has come down to a duel between President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his former right-hand man, Ali Benflis, with four other candidates biting at their heels.
Polling day approaches after a lively "American-style" campaign underpinned by a host of changes that set this election apart from any previous vote, even since multi-party politics was allowed.
This time, the military has declared neutrality; electoral laws have been liberalized so that votes will have a paper trail; some 120 international observers will be present -- all firsts in Algeria.
For the first time since independence more than four decades ago, many Algerians sense that their vote can make a difference, after being in the habit of assuming in the past that the military made the real choices.
"The fact that the candidates are still there means that in the minds of the candidates, the elections are still worth contesting," Pasqualina Neapoletano, head of the European Parliament observer team told reporters on Tuesday.
But past experience, especially for politicians outside the military establishment that arose from the 1954-62 war of independence, has fueled fears that the new democratic experiment will flop.
Most observers agree that suspicions would arise, given the distribution of support among the six candidates, if Bouteflika wins outright on Thursday by garnering more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.
A joint communique issued Tuesday by the president's three main rivals --Benflis, Islamic candidate Abdallah Djaballah and Said Sadi, a secularist -- alleged a "plot" was being hatched in which Bouteflika's camp would claim victory with 53 to 55 percent of the vote before all the ballots were counted.
The tabloid press, quoting "very reliable sources," described a Machiavellian series of events in which state television would first announce phony results Thursday evening, followed by the staging of massive street celebrations and a bloody crackdown on the expected backlash.
"Without the ballots, a putsch!" screamed the front page of the daily Le Soir.
The swirling charges as the clock ticks down to Thursday's polls are reminiscent of the atmosphere ahead of the 1999 election that brought Bouteflika to power. Then, all six of his rivals -- who included Djaballah -- pulled out the day before, claiming that vote-rigging was already in full swing.
The private newspaper Liberte said Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni would be coerced into playing the role of "big orchestrator of the electoral hold-up." Ahmed Fattani, publisher of the daily L'Expression, said a first-round win by Bouteflika was likely, given his popularity and his efforts to end the traumatizing civil war that has claimed some 150,000 lives in the north African country of 32 million people since 1992.
Bouteflika "has done things that aren't bad. He could do better, but in terms of security, now you can go out at night. There was a time when there were 500 people killed a day," Fattani told AFP.
While the president deserves to be re-elected in the first round, if he has to face an unprecedented run-off vote two weeks from now, "then we'll be in a real democracy," Fattani said.
He compared the two scenarios to the difference between black and white and color television. "Which would you want?" he asked.
Fattani's L'Expression on Wednesday ran an interview with Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, a respected former foreign minister who was one of the six candidates who withdrew in 1999.
"Everything depends on the conditions on the day of the vote," Ibrahimi said. "In my opinion, if there is no fraud, a second round is inevitable." Neapoletano, for her part, said that if one candidate wins in a landslide, or just over 50 percent, "that will mean that something's wrong. We're not stupid." - Sapa-AFP.
Advertisement
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE FEEDBACK
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
