London demonstrators oppose Algerian election 'masquerade'

Algerian demo, London

Image by Algerian Solidarity Campaign

The Algerian regime is challenged over the presidential electoral masquerade and a 4^thterm of a physically unfit president (Bouteflika).

Demonstrators in front of the Algerian Consulate in London call for the end of the status quo and demand a genuine democratic transition.

Sunday 16/03/2014

A protest took place on the afternoon of Saturday 15 March in front of the Algerian consulate in London, to say “No” to the electoral masquerade and reject the Algerian regime’s vicious manoeuvres to maintain the status quo by putting forward a physically unfit president Bouteflika (77 years old) to run for a fourth term in the upcoming presidential elections in April 2014.

Fifty protesters with banners and placards reading: “Stop the Electoral Masquerade”, “NO to Bouteflika’s 4^th Term”, “For a Free and Democratic Algeria”, “Regime Must Go!” and “NO to the political police” read out statements in Arabic, French and English to call for a total boycott of the elections that will be neither free nor fair and whose results will not be decided by the Algerian people but by the dark boxes and shadows of the Algerian Regime.

The protesters also expressed their solidarity with the Barakat (“Enough!”) movement in Algeria and denounced the heavy-handed police response and repression of peaceful sit-ins held in the last few days in the capital Algiers and other parts of Algeria, to demand change.

The London protest coincided with a Barakat sit-in in the capital Algiers that gathered more than a hundred people and other protests all over the world such as Paris and Montreal.

Amine Mouffok from Algeria Solidarity Campaign (ASC), which called for the protest, declared that:

“The ailing President’s candidacy for a fourth term is a shameless move that confirms the whole-regime’s deep contempt and indifference  towards the Algerian people and is yet another sign that it is seeking to maintain itself in power at the expense of their democratic demands. We, therefore, demand a complete and peaceful change of this abhorrent regime and its mode of governance”.

Sidali Kouidri Filali from Barakat Movement in Algeria emphasised that:

"Barakat is a citizen-led movement, a cry of the heart in which many Algerians recognise themselves and in which many aspire to reclaim their confiscated freedom and political action. We want nothing other than the good of this country and to save it from the hands of those who, for 52 years, used it as a personal property, displaying a shameful disregard towards its citizens. It is high time to say BARAKAT! (“ENOUGH!”) to all of this. It is time to free this country a second time and for good. We will allow no one to question our patriotism and our love and sacrifice for what we hold most dearly, our country"

*** ENDS ***

Additional Notes:

Nature of Algerian Regime

Algeria is run by an authoritarian repressive regime with a democratic facade. 2013 report: “Democracy Index 2012: Democracy is at a standstill”, The Economist classified Algeria among the 50th most authoritarian regimes in the world and one of the most repressive regimes in North Africa and the Middle East (MENA) region, that has avoided an "Arab Spring"-style uprising.

https://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex12

Power is shared between several factions, mainly the presidential clan and the military secret police (DRS). There has been an apparent intense rivalry between these two factions in the last few months over Bouteflika’s succession but it seems that the regime has reached now a consensus and accepted the incumbent President as the regime’s candidate. The regime’s plan is likely to be gaining time and avoiding any unpleasant suprises from outside of it, by following up the presidential elections with a change in the constitution, in order to create, for the first time in Algeria’s history, the post of a Vice-President, which, will ensure the continuity of the management of the State’s affairs in case the regime is not able to officially maintain any-more President Bouteflika as a president, for one reason or another, including death.

Bouteflika’s Health Issues

Bouteflika was hospitalised in the Paris Military Hospital of Val de Grace, on 27^th April for a minor stroke, according to the Algerian authorities. He also spent some convalescence time to recover and regain his functional abilities in Les Invalides, a medical centre of the French state in Paris -which, to this day, still comprises the national institute for disabled war veterants. He only went back to Algeria on 16^th of July, after almost three months of absence that sparked huge concerns about his health and generated intense discussion and speculation about his succession.

Since then, his rare and literally choreographed TV appearances only confirmed his severe state of illness and raised serious concerns about his ability to run the country.

Algeria and Human Rights

In a 2013 report, Amnesty International said that the Algerian authorities continued to restrict freedoms of expression, association and assembly, dispersing demonstrations and harassing human rights defenders. Human Rights Watch have reported on how the authorities relied on repressive laws and regulations to stifle dissent and human rights activities, by increasingly clamping down on efforts to form independent unions and to organize and participate in peaceful protests and workers’ strikes. The authorities have arbitrarily blocked demonstrations, as well as arrested and prosecuted trade unionists for the peaceful exercise of their unions activities.