The Socialist Forces Front announced today that it will boycott the early Algerian elections scheduled for June 12th, due to the absence of the necessary conditions for their organization, and thus the oldest opposition parties join two other parties that decided to boycott the polls.
The statement of the National Council of the Forces Front explained the reasons for its boycott of early elections, saying that the conditions for holding them "are not available, and that the elections do not constitute a solution to the multidimensional crisis that the country is going through. Therefore, the Socialist Forces Front cannot participate in these elections."
The party - which was established in 1963 - called for taking "measures that allow the Algerian people to freely exercise their right to self-determination," especially "respect for basic freedoms, fair access by all political and social actors to the media, and the opening of a comprehensive dialogue."
With this, the Powers Front joins both the Rally for Culture and Democracy and the Labor Party, which decided in recent weeks to boycott the early elections.
Parliament dissolved
Following the dissolution of the National People's Assembly (the lower chamber of parliament) on February 21, President Abdel Majeed Tebboune called for early legislative elections in an attempt to regain control, in light of the resumption of the anti-regime protest movement a year after the demonstrations stopped due to the precautionary measures to combat Coronavirus pandemic.
In exchange for the boycotting parties, several parties decided to participate in the upcoming legislative elections, including the National Liberation Front (the ruling party under former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika) and the National Democratic Rally (its former leader Ahmed Ouyahia, who is currently in prison on corruption charges). Islamic such as the Peace Society Movement and the National Building Movement.
Algeria recently witnessed demonstrations rejecting the elections without taking into account the demands of the (French) popular movement.
Protests
Since President Tebboune announced the holding of early elections, Hirak demonstrators have come out every week in Algiers and in many major cities, in protest against the "system roadmap", which decided to organize early legislative elections without taking into account the demands of the protest movement.
Two days ago, the capital and several states witnessed protest marches raising slogans against the early elections, and some of the participants in the demonstrations raised banners that read: "The elections are theatrical ... Past experiences did not lead us to a solution."
Two years after the departure of former President Bouteflika from power, the protest movement continues to demand a radical change in the political system in place since the country's independence in 1962.