After launching a workshop to amend the constitution .. Will Algeria change its political system?

Abdel-Hakim Hadaqa-Algeria

The nature of the political system in the Algerian constitution gives rise to widespread controversy between experts and the political class alike, as jurists classify it within the semi-presidential systems, at a time when politicians consider it a mysterious system that intentionally overlaps in the relations of the authorities.

The matter led, according to observers, to an automatic ambiguity in the rules of the political game in Algeria, because the political system is not applicable to known international standards, neither is it a parliamentarian nor a presidential one.

By opening President Abdel-Majid Taboun a workshop to amend the constitution, it renewed the debate, indeed the dispute between the presidency and the opposition, on the one hand, and the spectra of the latter itself, over choosing the system that best suits the Algerian situation, according to its historical peculiarities and the path of its young democratization experience.

The opinions circulated ranged between the necessity of going to a parliamentary or semi-presidential system, especially since the president's expressed views confirm his bias towards the second system.

Echo opinions
The discussion turned to social networking sites, where former parliamentarian Fateh Qirda wrote on his Facebook page, "From a scientific standpoint and with a methodology of comparison and induction, the real semi-presidential system is appropriate for Algeria."

He justified this by considering Algeria live as an emerging democracy, while the parliamentary system is going through periodic crises even in the old democratic countries, and the appearance of the crisis is clearer in Tunisia, Kuwait and Lebanon, he said.

Mohammed Bashoush shared his opinion, who said, "I think that the balance of powers between the presidency and parliament should be restored by adopting a semi-presidential system in the new constitution, especially since the president Taboun strives to be a man of dialogue."

However, Representative Lakhdar Razzak Barah tweeted, "By virtue of my experience as a deputy, I propose a parliamentary system that is based on balance, coordination and cooperation between the legislative and executive branches, where ministers and the prime minister are responsible to parliament, not to mention that this system can absorb all contradictions."

Likewise, Walid Ould Siddik commented, "The parliamentary system gives importance to the performance, effectiveness and eligibility of the people's representatives in monitoring and accompanying them to the performance of the executive authority, which is basically the result of the majority of its seats."

Different parties
The same dispute was enshrined in the positions of the partisan class, where the people who aspire to compete for the Mouradia Palace tend to adopt a semi-presidential system that guarantees a balance between the authorities, which is the case of the head of the vanguard liberties party Ali bin Felis, the head of the National Construction Movement Abdel Qader bin Quraina, and the head of the Future Front Abdel Aziz Belaid, and the Acting Secretary General of the National Democratic Assembly, Ezzedine Mihoubi, as they expressed during their election campaigns.

However, the leader of the Peace Society Movement, Nasser Hamadadoush, said that the lesson is not in the nature of the political system, but rather the extent to which there is good political practice and democracy, and respect for the standards of good governance.

In a statement to Al-Jazeera Net, he affirmed that his movement "believes in the parliamentary system that guarantees broadening the rule of government, true representation of the people, and credibility of its will through the legislative elections, not to mention separation and balance between the authorities, and strengthens parliamentary oversight of the government’s work, limits the executive branch’s transgression of others, and enhances Chances of their success in development. "

Political rehabilitation
On the other hand, the views of the analysts on the matter also varied, as the professor of public law at the University of Algiers, Allaib El-Ayeb, defended the introduction of Algeria in the semi-presidential system that confirms its characterization of the mixed system.

He justified this by the fact that Algeria adopts the great constitutional principle based on the separation of powers, and the latter requires cooperation and parallelism, and therefore it was inspired by the characteristics and powers of the two systems, the parliamentary and the presidential.

He explained in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that Algeria is not ready to go towards the parliamentary system, because it is living in a political crisis par excellence, where the rulers refuse to leave power, and they cling to it, even by force, whatever the election results.

But he raised in return to reduce the powers of the president, to share the executive authority with the prime minister, stressing the need for political parties to participate compulsively in them, so that their electoral reservoir does not go in vain, and he gave an example of the national construction movement whose president won the last presidential entitlement 1.6 million votes, but it changed Represented in the current government.

Parliamentary credibility
On the other hand, a professor of political science at Blida University, Farouq Tayfour, believes that "the parliamentary system is in harmony with distant borders with democratic interaction in the Arab countries, as they live old hereditary dictatorships, and any constitutional legislation that gives the president broad powers will increase his tyranny."

He said in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that "the Algerian experience has tried various types of political systems, but it did not provide them with real evaluation opportunities, due to forgery, the postponement of the peaceful transfer of power, and the fear and resistance to change."

He believes that the Algerian stage needs to build a new credibility, which gives the opportunity to a real parliamentary life, especially in the event that it is not possible to compete democratically for the presidency.

Therefore - Tayfour adds - the parliamentary system provides a temporary state of transition, then the political elites who have raised their levels can agree on a mix between the presidential and the parliamentarian, as some elites in Europe have done, in order to coexist between the president and the prime minister.

He added that the stability of political life and achieving reconciliation, peace and development are among the priorities of the Algerian governments, and this is achieved by a parliamentary system that helps to provide a homogeneous cabinet, and to ensure that he wins confidence before Parliament throughout the legislative period.