Presidential elections in Algeria could "radicalize mobilization"

By announcing Sunday, September 15, that the Algerian presidential election will be held on December 12, the acting president of Algeria, Abdelkader Bensalah, responded to the requests of the chief of staff of the army, Ahmed Gaïd Salah, real strongman of the country since the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika on April 2, but has a little more put back the protesters.

The latter oppose the rapid holding of a presidential, seeing only one way for the "system" to remain at the helm of the country. They demand the departure of the figures in power, Abdelkader Bensalah and General Gaid Salah in mind, which perpetuate, according to them, the device inherited from the 20 years of Bouteflika presidency.

>> To read: "Algeria: the presidential election set for December 12"

The vote to elect Abdelaziz Bouteflika's successor, initially scheduled for July 4, had to be canceled, as no candidate had declared himself in the face of the extent of the dispute. However, General Ahmed Gaïd Salah was recently certain that the election would be held quickly.

For Brahim Oumansour, associate researcher at Iris (Institute of International and Strategic Relations), specialist in Algeria, interviewed by France 24, this decision could harden the protest movement. Especially since by choosing the former Minister of Justice Mohamed Chorfi to take the lead of the independent authority responsible for organizing the electoral process and "supervise all its stages, since the convening of the electoral body to the announces preliminary results ", the power has, according to him, sent a bad signal.

France 24 : The power announced that the presidential would be held on December 12 . After the cancellation of the election to be held on July 4 , does this election have a chance to take place ?

Brahim Oumansour : Everything will depend on the balance of power between the power and the protesters. They reject this decision of the interim president for a simple reason: many believe that the conditions for a real democratic transition are not met. Two scenarios are therefore possible: the repetition of what happened on July 4 with a pure and simple cancellation of the vote; or an election that the government organizes at all costs, despite the refusal of the population. The problem of this scenario is that we could then attend an election with a very low participation rate and a likely hardening of the mobilization, or even its radicalization. The future of the country remains unresolved.

>> To see: "There is no democratic dialogue between the power and the street"

What exactly do the demonstrators in power reproach ?

It is not so much the fact of organizing a presidential election as a problem, but rather the method chosen by the power and the choice of people to direct the organization of the election. Clearly, choosing a former Minister of Justice of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Mohamed Chorfi, as president of this body sends a bad signal. This automatically undermines the power and its intentions. This shows that we can not find the right people to organize such a vote or that we do not give ourselves the means to find the right people. Do the Algerian leaders want a real democratic transition or do they want to continue with the same system by simply changing a few people, at the risk of provoking a future political crisis that is even deeper and more dramatic for the country?

The interim president, Abdelkader Bensalah, underestimates the crisis of trust that exists today between the Algerian people and the government. It is very profound and will only disappear when there has been real action to make the population part of the democratic process.

>> Read: Algerian opposition leader Karim Tabbou placed in pre-trial detention

What could the ruling power do to regain the confidence of Algerians ?

First, establish a real dialogue with the actors of the mobilization or with representatives of the political parties of the opposition. The acting president, the power in place, could very well engage in a real dialogue with these people to build trust. Instead, the "national forum of dialogue" which was formed in July and which was to bring together political parties, civil society and representatives of the protest movement, is an empty shell because this body does not display, by its casting , a neutrality vis-à-vis the power in place. Moreover, instead of trying to convince the leaders of the mobilization to participate in this body which should play an arbitration role, they are stopped.

However, getting the representatives of the mobilization to participate in the national dialogue and in the organization of the elections would be an important guarantee for getting people to join the transition process. This body would then be considered differently by the Algerians, who would see it as a real guarantee of the democratic conduct of the election.