Algeria’s Bouteflika offers ‘democracy’ if re-elected

ADRAR, Algeria – Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s campaign chief promised on Sunday that constitutional changes would create a “broad democracy” if the ailing incumbent wins re-election next month.

Former prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal gave scant details of the long-promised changes as he opened the re-election campaign with a speech in the southern desert town of Adrar.

Sellal was one of six senior regime figures who fanned out across the vast North African country to campaign on behalf of the president, who is too sick to take to the hustings himself.

Bouteflika’s decision to seek a fourth term despite a mini-stroke, which confined him to hospital in Paris for three months last year, has drawn heavy criticism not only in opposition ranks but also from some within the regime.

Former president Liamine Zeroual has sharply criticised the 2008 constitutional amendment that allowed Bouteflika to seek and win a third term and demanded a handover of power.

Sellal told the rally in Adrar that constitutional changes, first promised in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region in 2011, would be adopted this year.

“Algeria will have a broad democracy, a participatory democracy. Every citizen will take part in the country’s development,” said Sellal, who stepped down as prime minister to run Bouteflika’s re-election campaign.

“We are going to expand the rights of the people’s elected representatives and the opposition parties will have their constitutional rights,” he told a crowd of about 1,000 people.

Sellal gave no further details of the proposed changes, a draft of which he handed to Bouteflika in September last year.

Press reports had suggested that the changes might create a post of vice president but that was denied by Sellal on Friday.

Bouteflika ‘fit to govern’

Sellal, who was closely involved in the 2004 and 2009 campaigns that returned Bouteflika to power, insisted earlier this month the president need not be on the road himself to campaign for re-election.

The president rejected concerns about his health in a message to the nation on Saturday, insisting he is fit to govern and will stand in the race April 17 election in response to persistent calls from Algerians.

“It is my duty to respond positively, because never in my life have I shied away from the call of duty,” he said.

“The difficulties linked to my health do not appear to disqualify me in your eyes or plead in favour of me giving up the heavy responsibilities which have, in part, affected my health,” he said.

Bouteflika, who is widely expected to win the race, faces five other presidential hopefuls, including one woman, Louisa Hanoune, and former premier Ali Benflis.

In an interview published Sunday by the Jeune Afrique magazine, Benflis, who is seen as Bouteflika’s main competition, said he would offer Algerians a new constitution “in order to re-establish a balance of powers”.

Benflis, 69, is a human rights defender who was sidelined from politics after running against Bouteflika in 2004.

He was due Sunday to address supporters in Mascara, a city in western Algeria that is highly symbolic because it is the hometown of the Emir Abdelkader, a key figure in Algerian history who fought the French colonial authorities in the 19th century.

El Watan2014 website, set up for the presidential election, said the message “Ali Benflis will be our future president” had appeared on the site before it was taken down.

This came as Bouteflika’s Facebook page said that the president’s website had been temporarily suspended because of a cyberattack.

Meanwhile, politicians boycotting the elections on Sunday called for a “democratic transition” as a way to achieve a change of power in Algeria.