Protests, controversy mark elections in Algeria

ALGIERS, Algeria – Algerian voters went to the polls Thursday in an election marked by questions over the incumbent president's health and anger over his re-election bid even as he appeared poised to sail to victory.

On the eve of the election, opposition protests broke out in Algiers, with police violently dispersing the demonstrators. More protests are expected Friday.

The protests have been growing in strength and frequency since February when President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77, announced a bid in for a fourth consecutive term. That set off anger in the North African country that has been the notable exception to the violent revolutionary fervor of the Arab Spring that swept most of the region three years ago.

Now the opposition has called for a boycott of the elections with slogans such as: "Enough," "No to the 4th Term" and "April 17th: Day of national mourning."

"We are here today to march against the election of shame, the election of the mafia, a presidential election that has no legitimacy and that is already rigged," said Rifat Zireb, a member of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), a secular opposition party, demonstrating in Bejaia, in northern Algeria earlier this week. "We call on everyone to boycott the vote."

Bouteflika has been in office since 1999. Before his second term as president expired in 2008, he scrapped constitutional rules limiting him to two terms. He was elected for a third term in 2009, and in April 2013 he suffered a minor stroke that sent him to a hospital in France for three months.

Since his return to Algeria, he has only appeared on television to meet foreign officials, such as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited Algeria in early April.

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal quit his position to run the campaign of the ailing president, touring the country along with six other "representatives" for Bouteflika, holding rallies and speaking on the president's behalf.

The move has earned Bouteflika a flurry of nicknames among his opponents, including "phantom president" and the "mummy president."

In the past few weeks, Bouteflika's campaign team has constantly assured voters the president's health is improving and he can run the country effectively.

"The people know Bouteflika and Bouteflika knows his people," said Abdeslam Bouchouareb, communication director of the president's campaign.

But Bouteflika's opponents say he is too old and ill to govern.

"We're a joke for the whole world, everyone laughs at Algeria," said Madjid Ouddak, a town councilman in Chemini. "During his past three terms, Bouteflika has plunged Algeria into widespread corruption. We do not want these people to keep on running the country."

Like Ouddak, many Algerians denounce what they call "the system," an informal network of politicians, businessmen and army generals, who they say have clung to power since Algeria's independence in 1962 and run the country from behind the scenes for their own profit, using the current president as a front man.

As a result, Bouteflika faces five candidates including front-runner and former prime minister Ali Benflis, 69. Benflis has warned of electoral fraud and said "If the election is rigged, I will not keep quiet."

Many believe fraud will lead the incumbent president to another term. Others say Bouteflika is still popular among many Algerians. His supporters credit him with putting an end to terrorism and the country's civil war in the 1990s, called the "black decade" when almost 200,000 people were killed.

"We don't want Algeria to be at war," said Boutheyna Mokdad, a 25-year-old student who attended Bouteflika's rally in Algiers on Sunday. "We have lived through the black decade, we know what it means to have no hope in the future.

"And we don't want an Arab Spring like in Tunisia and Egypt, where now people regret what they did and want to go back," she added. "As long as he gives us security, all we need is water and bread and that's enough."

Still, Bouteflika's candidacy has spurred growing opposition. In early March, a protest movement called Barakat (Enough) was created, led by students, doctors, lawyers and journalists such as prominent writer Mustafa Benfodil and gynecologist Amira Bouraoui.

Barakat has staged peaceful demonstrations across the country. During a rally Wednesday, dozens of Barakat protesters were beaten by riot police in Algiers. Five political parties – RCD, Ennahda, MSP, FJD and Jil Jadid – have also organized demonstrations to boycott the vote.

"This election is a huge masquerade, a historic masquerade," said Amira Bouraoui, a founder of Barakat. "We never thought Algeria would reach a point where it would put a sick king in power surrounded by a mafia. We're asking this regime to leave power in a peaceful way."

In past weeks, tensions mounted across the country as elections neared. A few demonstrations ended in violence with protesters preventing Bouteflika's aides from holding rallies. A cultural center in Bejaia was torched in early April after a presidential rally was planned there.

Bouteflika's campaign has tried to capitalize on Algerians fear of instability and unrest, saying the protest movements are inciting violence, sedition and even "terrorism."

Still, some voters say they want change because they believe the ruling government is incompetent. Despite huge oil revenues, Algeria is facing a housing crisis and high rates of unemployment, with youth unemployment at 21.5%, according to the IMF.

"Here in Algeria, young people's rights are only dreams," said 20-year-old student Locif Amraoui.