Algeria 2014 Elections Could be Rigged Once Again

The Algeria 2014 elections are set to commence in April with contesters abstaining out of worry of rampant fraud.

Once again, for the fourth time since the 90s, the presidential elections in Algeria are being labeled as a fraud – a rigging of a president that has seen three consecutive five-year terms, in spite of the fact that the constitution previously only allowed two maximum terms.

With the previously ailing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a man widely credited with helping to end the civil war in this nation that cost 200,000 lives, coming suddenly back onto the scene after taking a discernible leave of absence for much of the year due to health reasons, proponents have once again seen their hopes dashed.

Seeing as Bouteflika essentially controls the government with an iron fist, sacking those who do not do his bidding and replacing them with high level officials who do his bidding, his recent filing during the last 24 hour period to announce his candidacy has many citizens worried that things will remain as the status quo for yet another five years.

A recent Al Jazeera report shed light on the notion that the May legislative elections were widely pegged as fraudulent, with the ruling party, the National Liberation Front, claiming unprecedented turnout and speculated favorable votes.

When the Constitutional Council received Bouteflika’s filing this past week, many citizens were downcast in their hopes for a more prominent citizen like Ali Benflis, who is running without the NLF backing, to have a shot at a presidential bid.

In the Al Jazeera report, they undermined the reported turnout of 42.9 percent, stating that it was rigged so that people would think that enough turned out for it to be realistic and believable. The article specifically stated: “Electoral fraud by Algeria's government is normal practice and expected. All elections since 1992, when the regime annulled Algeria's only truly democratic elections, have been rigged.”

Will the Algeria 2014 presidential election be any different this time around for hopeful Ali Benflis? Only time will tell. If they are not, it could shatter the peace of this nation and lead to increased unrest.