Ailing Bouteflika’s Health Should Result in Election Withdrawal, Propel Ali Benflis to Favored Candidate

Ailing Bouteflika, the president of Algeria, has been literally invisible lately. His health concerns have candidates like Ali Benflis asking why he’s running again. 

The last time the public ever saw Ailing Bouteflika was on March 3^rd of this year, when he made a very short and brief television appearance to announce his presidential candidacy. A Daily Nation report inflected that this was first time that the president was even seen in two years, and that he has recently not even been taking phone calls or presidential visits, telling of his ailing health following a major stroke that hospitalized him. At 77-years-old, the president looked “frail” and ill, according to the report. He was barely able to speak, and he has not been seen since. With more than two years that separated that appearance from his last, the question that favored incumbent Ali Benflis has is: Why is he running for president when he’s too ill to get the job done?

A recent article on the Turkish Press said that Bouteflika was only responding to calls of the people to run for a fourth term. But this is contrary to the actual belief of the people in the country, who see a president sitting a third term illegally, one that was only made possible by revising of the constitution and making it legal for him to run for as many terms as he wants; something that used to be limited at two prior to his third election, one that was plagued by fraud and that has served as an outcry by politicians in this nation leading up the pending April 17^th election day. With most political parties boycotting the election, and with protests sweeping the country in favor of ousting the ailing president, it hardly seems like the people are calling for him to stay, but rather for him to step down and make way for much needed political change.

Then again, it’s also fair to consider that with how sick the president has become that he may also be senile. In the sense that he truly might believe that the entire nations wants him to run when it’s really quite the opposite. If the president heeds the actual call of the people and does step down, instead of pursuing a fourth term, Ali Benflis is the favored candidate to take the top post in this nation that’s trying to reinvent itself through much needed political change.

EARLY ELECTION FRAUD: President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Claims to Have Millions of Signatures for His Campaign But Once Again Offers Scant Evidence

Ailing Algeria President Abdelaziz Bouteflika says he has millions of campaign signatures calling for his fourth term, but refuses to deliver any evidence.

It seems that you can’t indeed teach and old dog like Abdelaziz Bouteflika new tricks. He’s resorting to the same clandestine tactics that saw him illegally elected three times in a row. That said, his third election was entirely illegal. What does a dictator do to keep in office? Why they amend the constitution and make it legal for them to serve as many terms as they please, something that Bouteflika did internally without the backing of the people prior to running for his illegal third term in 2004 (and winning in a contest that many people say was entirely rigged).

Same Old Tricks, Same Old Sick Puppy

With his ailing health being in serious question, Bouteflika has not had much time to much of anything but to sit in a hospital bed. He’s only been seen in public one time in the past two years, on a TV address where he appeared to be very frail and very ill. That said, his newest announcement purports that he’s gathered millions of ballot signatures from people that desire for him to enjoy a fourth term of his dictatorship. Sources say that people have been forced to sign the forms or risk losing their jobs. Other sources purport that militants have moved from city to city either forging signatures or using intimidating tactics to force people to sign them. The AADL housing units in the slums were also approached, with many people saying they were forced to sign or lose their housing allowances, which they could not afford to do.

So it seems that you can’t, indeed, teach an old dog any new tricks. Abdelaziz Bouteflika is resorting to the same fraud that saw him seize power and keep it for the past 15 years. If so many people wanted him in office, then why would they be rallying behind Ali Benflis and demanding change. Then again, why would they protesting by the thousands in planned marches. And also, why would nearly every other political party be boycotting this election saying that it’s riddled with fraud and illegal? It’s been the same status quo since 2004, when Abdelaziz Bouteflika illegally gained a third presidential term.

One last thing: he claims these 4 million signatures were gathered in just a meager 48 hours, telling of how impossible an undertaking it truly was. And where’s the proof? That’s just it… none has been offered!

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.

Algeria 2014 Elections Could Be Marred by Deceptive Numbers

Can the Algeria 2014 presidential elections avoid the fraud that has cast a shadow over the previous ones?

For 15 years, Algeria has seen the same president rule at its helm: aging.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Now as the Algeria 2014 elections get underway – in April of this year – many are speculating that the fraud that has cast a shadow over them in the past will be just as rampant this time around.

In 2004, when Ali Benflis ran and was defeated, most other parties boycotted the elections, citing concerns of undeniable fraud. It was during this election that Bouteflika won his second term, later amending the constitution and winning a third term in 2009. Now, with his fourth term prospects looming, many are wondering if Benflis is the only hope for the people.

Case and Point

The most recent legislative elections in Algeria took place in May of 2012. They were widely considered to be rigged as well. According to a Gulf News report, observers stated about a 30 percent turnout nationwide, whereas the government stated nearly a 43 percent turnout, prompting a rash of reports citing fraud at the polling stations. With two parties dominating the elections in 2012 – FLN and Green Alliance – and taking a majority of the seats, the promise of a revised constitution and more efficacious elections has gone out the window with the two sister parties still controlling the government in the Algeria 2014 elections.

Benflis has been a favorite in recent times because he connects to the college graduates and the people. In a nation where graduates suffer a 20 percent unemployment ratio and where the oil rich nation has regular unrest from civilians who can’t find jobs, can’t afford to eat and have little or no utilities, a fourth term for Bouteflika could spell peril. 

Or the worst of what people have feared, an Arab Spring or outright civil war when 70 percent of the population is under the age of 35 and is being ruled by 30 percent, who is out of touch with the society they are supposed to be serving.

Islamist Party to Boycott Algeria 2014 Elections

In the most recent news, the Islamist party has announced that they will be boycotting the Algeria 2014 elections.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika is facing stiff opposition when he heads to the Algeria 2014 election in mid-April of this year. Namely, he’ll have to contend with people’s favorite, Ali Benflis, who connects with the rising group of persons under the age of 35, who represent more than 70 percent of the election. But he won’t have to contend with the Movement of Society for Peace party—which has recently announced that they will be boycotting the election in accordance with a number of other major parties, citing concerns of fraud.

In a recent interview with Fox News, the party stated that “conditions weren't right for a free choice for Algerians.” While the party has taken part in most elections in the past, this will represent the first time that they will be abstaining.

In the previous May, 2012 legislative election, the government stated a turnout of about 43 percent versus what local news agencies and reporters claimed was a meager 30 percent, causing unrest and discontent over viable instances of election fraud. A number of party observers even witnessed people submitting damaged or voided ballots. And many noted that the numbers were disparately different than what they witnessed when the government announced the official results.

The Algeria 2014 election looms just around the corner. A country that’s already beset by civil and political unrest, a rising insurgency and no sign of a middle class, with a large portion of the nation destitute, it could be a disaster if Bouteflika is elected again. Meanwhile, about 70 percent of the nation is under the age of 35, whereas the ruling parties are comprised of elderly war heroes from the independence days. The majority of the nation is eagerly awaiting a president that represents the will of the people.  

If Bouteflika does win again, and if the elections are deemed as fraud, it could spell a long Arab Spring for Algeria.