Poll fraud claims as Algerians re-elect president

By Roula Khalaf in Algiers, Financial Times, April 10 2004

Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika yesterday won a second five-year term after an election marred by accusations of fraud in a country emerging from more than a decade of civil strife.

The interior ministry announced that Mr Bouteflika had been awarded more than 83 per cent of the vote in Thursday's poll, giving his main rival and former prime minister Ali Benflis less than 8 per cent. Three other candidates shared the rest of the votes.

Many Algerians credit the president with the improvement in security in the oil-and gas-rich country, and scores of voters said they preferred to allow him to continue as president rather than risk a newcomer. But the more than 83 per cent support for him announced yesterday is likely to reinforce perceptions of a flawed election. Mr Benflis has vowed not to recognise the outcome of the poll.

Candidates in the election enjoyed three weeks of open campaigning, but the military-backed government was accused of blocking potentially strong rivals to Mr Bouteflika from running.

Mr Benflis, meanwhile, was prevented from using the resources of the National Liberation Front, the party that had picked him as its candidate, after an Algerian court came under pressure to block the party's activities.

Mr Bouteflika, on the other hand, seemed to have unlimited funds and he had monopolised state television before the campaign began.

The election comes more than a decade after the Algerian army cancelled a poll the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was set to win, plunging the North African country into savage confrontation between radical Islamist groups and security forces.

Since his election as the army's candidate in 1999, Mr Bouteflika has presided over a period of increased calm and, after the army negotiated a truce with the armed wing of the FIS, he offered militants an effective amnesty.

Fiercely criticised by the French-language press in Algiers for his authoritarian attitude, Mr Bouteflika's emphasis on "continuity" rather than "change" struck a chord with a society traumatised by violence and searching above all for stability.

Mr Bouteflika's supporters say he will now be in a stronger position to limit the political role of the military establishment, the real power in Algeria. But although the army declared its neutrality in the poll, the president seemed to be backed by some powerful factions in the military.

Political analysts fear that as Mr Bouteflika seeks to expand the powers of the presidency, internal power struggles will divert attention away from what Algeria desperately needs - more efficient management of the country.

The unemployment rate is at least 25 per cent and a privatisation programme has been stalled as various power centres in the region fail to agree on a common strategy.