Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 19)

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Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 19)

المحتوى

Algeria — Chance for
Democracy?
In early June, President Shadli Benjedid, under pressure from the
Islamic fundamentalist riots, accepted the resignation of the National
Liberation Front (NLF) government. The new cabinet, appointed in
its place, is the first non—NLF government since Algeria gained
independence from French occupation in 1962. General elections
scheduled for late June were postponed indefinitely, and a state of
siege was declared.
President Benjedid’s decision to change
‘the government: Firstly, the previous
government had failed to alleviate
by Lena Al Aswad
Two other factors were involved in
Ar T
hm,
Democrauc Palestine, Augusi 1991
Algeria’s economic crisis; secondly,
Benjedid had prior plans to reduce the
NLF’s role in government. This was
implicit in the new election laws,
whereby all parties would compete on
their own for parliamentary representa-
tion. It was further confirmed later in
June, when Benjedid resigned from the
NLF’s chairmanship in order to serve as
the president of all the people, rather
than primarily the NLF’s leader.
Increasing public discontent, due to
the exacerbated economic crisis in the
country, has caused broad popular
protests in the past. Algeria has a foreign
debt of $29 billion. Out of a population
of 25 million — 75% of whom are
younger than 30 - 1.5 million are
unemployed (Time, June 17th).
In October 1988, thousands of young
Algerians, angered by the deteriorating
living conditions, demonstrated in the
streets of the capital city. The
demonstration was brutally suppressed
by the police, and untold damage
occurred.To deflect public discontent,
the government shortly afterwards
began relaxing control and embarked on
political reforms, calling for political
pluralism and the creation of a
multi-party system. Since then, some
40 odd parties have been established.
Among the first to be formed was the
Islamic Salvation Front (ISF), which
quickly gained a large constituency of
fundamentalists and non-fundamen-
talists. In municipal and provincial elec-
tions in June 1989, the ISF won the
majority of seats (55%).
In April of this year, the ISF’s anger
was aroused by the introduction of the
new electoral laws. The ISF said that the
new laws would limit its chance of
becoming a strong bloc within the
government because the president
retained the right to appoint the
government, without considering the
political composition of the parliament.
The ISF gained maximum benefits by
agitating the Algerian masses against the
NLF party, and called upon the public to
demand an Islamic state and the resigna-.
tion of Benjedid.
Fomenting chaos
On the first day of June, the ISF
called for a general strike and organized
demonstrations in the Streets,
condemning the new electoral laws and
complaining that they were biased. Local
councils, which are controlled by the
fundamentalists, went on strike. On the
second day of the demonstrations, the
police used tear gas to suppress them; on
the third day, watercannons were used to
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Democratic Palestine : 45

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