Algeria protests: Pro-democracy movement hopes to derail rigged election
In Algeria, a popular protest movement is seeking to derail the country’s elections. In the largest country in Africa and the Arab World, demonstrations will be taking place from 8th December through to 13th December in an effort to disrupt a poll called by the government for the 12th. The pro-democracy movement, known as the Hirak, charges that the planned vote is a sham concocted by a corrupt political elite to neutralise their calls for a transition to a genuine democratic system in the country.
The Hirak began holding massive street demonstrations in February in opposition to the announcement that Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was then the President of Algeria, would seek re-election. Bouteflika had been incapacitated since suffering from a stroke in 2013. In April, the demonstrators gained a significant concession from their government when the 82 year old Bouteflika, who had been in power for 20 years, resigned.
However, while Bouteflika stepped aside, this has not led to regime change. Instead, the military, led by its Chief of Staff General Ahmed Gaid Salah, continues to maintain control of the transitional government, which is nominally headed by President Abdelkader Bensalah.
The Hirak movement has persisted, holding mass demonstrations every Tuesday and Friday ever since in order to push for a full and transparent democratic transition. They want the removal of all current officials, including President Bensalah and General Salah. Their slogans are “they all must leave” and “a civilian state, not a military one”.
The protestors in Algeria fear that this election will be nothing more than a reshuffling of the deck to create the illusion of real change. There is a widespread belief among the Hirak that the military has no intention of making this a free or fair election. The protesters also say that all five of the candidates for the presidency either supported Bouteflika or participated in his government. Indeed, two of them served as prime minister during the former President’s twenty-year rule. They believe that this election will only empower the current regime, a web of crony relationships enforced by the military, by enabling it to continue under a new, approved figurehead.
Last Friday, on 6th December, Algerians took the streets for one final Friday protest before the election this Thursday. The protestors in the streets of the capital, Algiers, shouted “the people want independence” and “the people want the overthrow of the regime.” This latter remark was an echo of the rallying cry of protestors in Egypt during the winter of 2010-11 who precipitated the downfall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak.
One participant, Fatiha Bendahmane, told the AFP news agency, “I am not voting, I am against this election because it is only serving to recycle Bouteflika figures.” Another, a 23-year-old called Islam Abrous, told journalists that “It is either us (the Hirak) or the remnant of the Bouteflika regime clinging to power”.
Over the weekend, there have been demonstrations outside Algerian consulates across France, where Algerian citizens living abroad are able to cast votes in their home elections. In Reims, outside the voting centre, Algerian citizens refused to vote and shouted “Aren’t you ashamed?” at those who did. In Lyon, supporters of the Hirak movement gathered to denounce the election as illegitimate, and heckled those who entered the Algerian consulate to cast a ballot.
The regime has reinforced its clampdown during the run up to the election date. Waves of arbitrary arrests have been carried out and peaceful demonstrations have been forcibly broken up. Peaceful protesters and prominent activists, including several journalists, have been imprisoned, often on the pretext that they are “harming national security”.
According to Human Rights Watch, since the election campaign officially began on 17th November, at least eight protestors have been convicted and imprisoned, and 15 others remain in pre-trial detention. At least 300 arrests have taken place over the same period. Those detained face such charges as “compromising the integrity of the territory”, “distributing publications harmful to the national interest” or “calling for an unauthorised gathering.”
The date of 12th December 2019 will bring about a tale of two elections in two very different circumstances. While Britons go the polls to decide the future of Brexit, Algerians will be staying away from them in the hope of starving their regime of the popular legitimacy it desires. Both elections will define the futures of their respective countries in profound and important ways.