Fig leaf of the ballot

 

 

Algeria completed another political ritual amidst widespread disillusionment and discontent. With merely 36.5% of the 18.7 million eligible voters casting their vote in the recently concluded parliamentary elections, the National Liberation Front (FLN) was again declared victorious. The party won 136 seats out of a total of 389, a loss of 65 seats from it’s 2002 tally. The FLN led by Abdelaziz Belkhadem, a close ally of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, consists of the National Rally for Democracy (RND) and the Movement for a Society of Peace (MSP, a moderate Islamic party). The principal opposition Islamist party is the Movement for National Reform (MRN), commonly known as El Islah. The banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), has remained outside the electoral process since 1992.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the former French colony, with abundant oil and gas reserves, has been experiencing an upsurge in sectarian violence of the Islamist variety. In 1992, the army had cancelled the first multiparty elections to prevent FIS from coming to power, leading to frenzied clashes between the army and the Islamic forces. That these forces are still active in the Algeria is proven by the two suicide attacks (on 11 April, at the Prime Minister’s office and at a police station), for which the North African wing of the al-Qaeda (formerly known as Salafist Group), claimed responsibility. This further corroborates the concern of the international community that Algeria is now one of the prime hubs of militant Islam. Opposing the elections, the Algerian al-Qaeda chief Abu Mussaab Abdul Wadud had vehemently told his supporters, “These elections are a farce, which is not different from other farces witnessed before in Algeria. If you participate in these elections, you will be a party to this flagrant act of the apostates.”

Although the elections provide a semblance of democracy to an otherwise divided and strife-torn nation, the harsh reality is that the simmering discontent is gnawing at the roots of the nation. Algeria is a perfect example of how a muddled policy based on ruthless suppression of fundamentalists, perpetuates their growth to unmanageable proportions in the long run.