Algerian presidential primaries
Again and again, Abdelaziz Bouteflika proves that size doesn't matter, technique is everything:
"We support the amending of the constitution to provide a legal framework to President Bouteflika so he can reinforce and guarantee the country's stability," Ahmed Ouyahia, RND leader and a former prime minister, told party officials on Saturday.
The National Organisation of War Veterans (Organisation Nationale des Moudjahidines), a powerful body in a system that regards veterans as revolutionary heroes, said in a statement:
"The ONM aspires to see the war veteran and President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, pursue his noble tasks and realise the will of the national forces by running for a third term." [...]
Commentators said the RND and ONM endorsements, which follow similar calls by Bouteflika's National Liberation Front (FLN) party and FLN-linked trade unions and youth groups, virtually guaranteed Bouteflika would seek a fresh mandate in 2009.
"There is a large consensus inside the military as well as within the political class that Bouteflika should be Algeria's next president," political analyst Mohamed Lakeb told Reuters.
An Islamic Movement for Peace and Society (MSP) party is expected to announce its support for Bouteflika shortly. The MSP, FLN and RND make up Algeria's ruling tripartite coalition.
So much easier this way, America: stop fiddling about with your silly elections, and just have the Joint Chiefs of Staff decide on a third term for Bush.
3 kommentarer:
A classic move in third-world, under-developed, and authoritarian regimes.
Except the current Mauritanian experience, the whole region is like that.
Algerian rulers, please save us the TV footage of mass demonstrations in the streets of people begging Boutef to stay for a third mandate.
You just wait until the Mauritanian presidential mandate begins to draw to an end, and we'll see.
As for demonstrations, they're banned in Algeria for security reasons, under emergency laws from the civil war. But I'm sure they can make an exception for popular outpourings of love for the president.
Protests in favor of the government are allowed.
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