Algeria's Ruling Party Hedges Bets and Backs Protesters
Bouteflika Suffers New Blow as Ruling Party Backs Protesters
(Bloomberg) -- Algeria’s ruling party on Wednesday voiced support for protesters demanding the country’s embattled president step down, in the latest signal of growing rifts within the ruling powers.
In comments carried by Algerian television, National Liberation Front chief Moued Bouchareb said Abdelaziz Bouteflika “understood the popular protests and its demands.” A statement issued by the party’s brass after a testy meeting, however, stopped short of withdrawing its backing for the ailing 82-year-old leader who remains determined to stay on to steer the country’s transition.
It urged Algerians to "stand united, alert and mobilized during this sensitive phase in the history of our country."
With the announcement, the FLN, which is known by its French acronym, became the latest in a growing list of parties, officials, unions and other groups wary of appearing deaf to the chorus of outrage that has gripped the nation almost a month ago. While Bouteflika has abandoned his bid for a fifth term in office, the demonstrations have continued unabated.
Looking to stem the unrest, Bouteflika last week announced he wouldn’t run again, and instead would merely shepherd the country through a transition to be determined by a national council. A new constitution would be drafted and put to the people by year’s end, he said.
The compromise was quickly rejected by the protesters, who saw it as an attempt by the president to sap their momentum and move ahead with his plan for an abridged term without holding elections.
The country’s newly-appointed deputy prime minister, Ramatane Lamamra, said on Wednesday that officials hoped the transition of power could take place “without confrontation,” Echourouk TV reported.
Lamamra, who was dispatched to meet with foreign officials, including in Russia and Germany, said he hoped Algerians would abandon protests in favor of a search for consensus, and that the solutions to the current crisis lay in the plan outlined by Bouteflika.
Developments in the North African country are being watched closely in Europe and elsewhere: Algeria is not only Africa’s largest energy producer but has been a bulwark against Islamist militancy and migration from other parts of the continent across the Mediterranean.
Bouteflika’s term ends on April 28, and the idea of him staying on has been labeled by critics as unconstitutional, raising the stakes even more.
Prior to the FLN meeting, Chihab Seddik, spokesman for the junior coalition RND party, told Albilad TV that the country has for years been run by “unconstitutional forces.”
The stand by the two parties may reflect a realization that these protests are unlikely to fizzle out any time soon.
The FLN and the RND are “airing each other’s dirty laundry,” Ammer Rekhila, a political analyst at Algiers University, said. “Two pillars of the system are tearing at each other in an attempt to absolve themselves and dodge responsibility.”
Both parties have been criticized by the protesters as part of the regime they want to see removed from power.
Other key allies are also increasingly distancing themselves from Bouteflika and the powerful but secretive coterie of military, business and political backers known as “le pouvoir” that runs the country.
Earlier in the week, the army chief of staff, General Ahmed Gaid Salah, gave an implicit thumbs-up to the protesters, saying they were pursing “noble aims.” Salah initially warned the rallies risked upsetting the country’s political balance.
--With assistance from Tarek El-Tablawy.
To contact the reporters on this story: Souhail Karam in Rabat at skaram10@bloomberg.net;Salah Slimani in Cairo at sslimani2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Tarek El-Tablawy, Paul Abelsky
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