By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
DailynewsegyptDailynewsegypt
  • Home
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    CBE allows women to open savings vessels to their minor children, should mothers provide money as donation
    CBE allows women to open savings vessels to their minor children, should mothers provide money as donation
    March 21, 2023
    Net FDIs recorded $8.9bn in 2022, highest since 2011: Hossam Heiba at AmCham
    Net FDIs recorded $8.9bn in 2022, highest since 2011: Hossam Heiba
    March 20, 2023
    Could this be the year for Tobacco Harm Reduction?
    Could this be the year for Tobacco Harm Reduction?
    March 20, 2023
    Strong presence of Egypt’s real estate developers in MIPIM in Cannes
    Strong presence of Egypt’s real estate developers in MIPIM in Cannes
    March 20, 2023
    Raaed Developments launches ROOTS compound in New Sohag with EGP 1.8bn investment
    Raaed Developments launches ROOTS compound in New Sohag with EGP 1.8bn investment
    March 20, 2023
  • Politics
    PoliticsShow More
    Al-Sisi pardons all imprisoned debt defaulters ahead of Ramadan 
    Al-Sisi pardons all imprisoned debt defaulters ahead of Ramadan 
    March 21, 2023
    Xi says China will continue to play constructive role in promoting political settlement of Ukraine crisis
    Xi says China will continue to play constructive role in promoting political settlement of Ukraine crisis
    March 21, 2023
    Chinese President Xi meets Putin in Moscow
    Chinese President Xi meets Putin in Moscow
    March 21, 2023
    UN envoy says solution "closest" to end political crisis in Sudan
    UN envoy says solution “closest” to end political crisis in Sudan
    March 20, 2023
    20 years on, George W. Bush’s promise of democracy in Iraq and Middle East falls short
    March 20, 2023
  • Interviews
    InterviewsShow More
    Government should help Egyptian arts revive its pioneering role: Omar Abdel Aziz
    Government should help Egyptian arts revive its pioneering role: Omar Abdel Aziz
    March 15, 2023
    Interconnected healthcare systems in Africa require political will from North African leaders: Amref official
    Interconnected healthcare systems in Africa require political will from North African leaders: Amref official
    March 12, 2023
    EGX ready for government’s IPOs programme: Chairperson
    EGX ready for government’s IPOs programme: Chairperson
    February 15, 2023
    British International Investment invests $4.5bn in 700 businesses across Africa: Sherine Shohdy
    February 15, 2023
    Valeo has invested around €0.5bn in Egypt over the past 10 years: CEO
    Valeo has invested around €0.5bn in Egypt over the past 10 years: CEO
    December 27, 2022
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
Reading: Islamists boycott Algeria vote as North African tide turns
Share
Notification
Latest News
Al-Sisi pardons all imprisoned debt defaulters ahead of Ramadan 
Al-Sisi pardons all imprisoned debt defaulters ahead of Ramadan 
Politics Egypt
CBE allows women to open savings vessels to their minor children, should mothers provide money as donation
CBE allows women to open savings vessels to their minor children, should mothers provide money as donation
Business
Xi says China will continue to play constructive role in promoting political settlement of Ukraine crisis
Xi says China will continue to play constructive role in promoting political settlement of Ukraine crisis
Politics
Chinese President Xi meets Putin in Moscow
Chinese President Xi meets Putin in Moscow
Politics World
Toyin Falola: 3 recent books that explain the work of Nigeria’s famous decolonial scholar
Culture
Aa
Aa
DailynewsegyptDailynewsegypt
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • Advertise
© 2023 DNE News. All Rights Reserved.
Dailynewsegypt > Blog > Politics > Islamists boycott Algeria vote as North African tide turns
PoliticsRegion

Islamists boycott Algeria vote as North African tide turns

Daily News Egypt
Last updated: 2014/04/13 at 3:12 PM
By Daily News Egypt 5 Min Read
Share
A file combo of six pictures shows (top from L to R) shows, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on 24 January 2012, former Algerian prime minister Ali Benflis on 14 March 2014, Ali Fawzi Rebaine on 5 April 2009, (bottom from L to R) Moussa Touati on 30 March 2009, Algiers Workers Party (PT) Secretary General Louisa Hanoune on 23 May 2011, and Abdelaziz Belaid on 26 April 2012. (AFP Photo)
SHARE

AFP – Algeria’s Islamists – once the country’s leading political force – are boycotting this month’s presidential election, chastened by recent poor performances at the polls and setbacks for ideological soulmates across North Africa.

The three main moderate Islamist parties have forged an unlikely alliance with the fiercely secularist Rally for Culture and Democracy to call on voters to shun an election they say is a “sham”.

Such considerations have not prevented some of them from taking part in past elections and even backing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the ailing 77-year-old incumbent whose bid for a fourth term they are now united in opposing.

Analysts say the decision of all three parties to boycott this time reflects a common fear of rejection at the polls as Islamist groups suffer reverses across the region.

The April 17 leadership contest comes just months after the resignation of an Islamist-led government in neighbouring Tunisia and the Egyptian army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year and its blacklisting of his Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.

“The Algerian Islamist parties are losing momentum after the failure of political Islam in the Arab Spring countries,” said analyst Said Djabelkheir.

A resurgence of jihadist violence, brought home to Algerian voters by a deadly hostage-taking at the In Amenas gas plant in the southern desert in January last year, has also revived dark memories of the civil war of the 1990s.

A rival, more radical Islamist movement, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), had been poised to win a parliamentary election in 1991 when the army stepped in to cancel it, prompting many of its activists to take up arms.

The traumatic experience of the “black decade” in which an estimated 200,000 people were killed is never far from the minds of Algerians and has forced the moderate Islamists to negotiate a difficult balancing act ever since.

Differences over whether to work with the regime have left them fragmented and weakened, their dismal performance in a 2012 general election contrasting sharply with electoral victories for Islamists in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.

The Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP) – the Algerian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood – supported Bouteflika from when he first took power in 1999 right up to early 2012, backing him when he was last re-elected in 2009, and served in successive governments.

But the MSP’s decision to break with the regime cost both it and its newfound Islamist opposition allies in the Front for Justice and Development (FJD) and Ennahda dearly.

The MSP had been the third largest party in parliament, but the parties’ joint list took just 48 seats out of 462 in the 2012 election.

Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck, an analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Centre, said the decision to boycott was probably “an excuse to avoid yet another setback.”

“It fails to hide the fragmentation, divisions, and lack of leadership within the current Islamist movement as a whole. Their inability to formulate a clear strategy, as a movement or as individual parties, has cost them support on the ground,” she argued.

For Amel Boubekeur, a specialist in political Islam at the Jacques Berque centre in Rabat, the rollercoaster of the past few years as the hopes of the Arab Spring uprisings have receded has changed Islamists across North Africa, who no longer think in terms of power as an exclusive goal.

But she agrees that they lack a political programme.

Forced “to take other players in the political arena into account,” Algeria’s Islamists have struggled to find common ground or to rally behind a consensus presidential candidate, she said.

A file combo of six pictures shows (top from L to R) shows, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on 24 January 2012, former Algerian prime minister Ali Benflis on 14 March 2014, Ali Fawzi Rebaine on 5 April 2009, (bottom from L to R) Moussa Touati on 30 March 2009, Algiers Workers Party (PT) Secretary General Louisa Hanoune on 23 May 2011, and Abdelaziz Belaid on 26 April 2012.  (AFP Photo)
A file combo of six pictures shows (top from L to R) shows, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on 24 January 2012, former Algerian prime minister Ali Benflis on 14 March 2014, Ali Fawzi Rebaine on 5 April 2009, (bottom from L to R) Moussa Touati on 30 March 2009, Algiers Workers Party (PT) Secretary General Louisa Hanoune on 23 May 2011, and Abdelaziz Belaid on 26 April 2012.
(AFP Photo)

You Might Also Like

Al-Sisi pardons all imprisoned debt defaulters ahead of Ramadan 

Xi says China will continue to play constructive role in promoting political settlement of Ukraine crisis

Chinese President Xi meets Putin in Moscow

UN envoy says solution “closest” to end political crisis in Sudan

20 years on, George W. Bush’s promise of democracy in Iraq and Middle East falls short

TAGGED: Algeria, boycott, islamists, north africa, politics, presidential candidate
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print
Previous Article Fact-checking journalism gains momentum
Next Article Arab youth environmental conference to launch in Hurghada
1 Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ad image

Stay Connected

Facebook Like
Twitter Follow
Instagram Follow
Youtube Subscribe

Latest News

Al-Sisi pardons all imprisoned debt defaulters ahead of Ramadan 
Al-Sisi pardons all imprisoned debt defaulters ahead of Ramadan 
Politics Egypt
CBE allows women to open savings vessels to their minor children, should mothers provide money as donation
CBE allows women to open savings vessels to their minor children, should mothers provide money as donation
Business
Xi says China will continue to play constructive role in promoting political settlement of Ukraine crisis
Xi says China will continue to play constructive role in promoting political settlement of Ukraine crisis
Politics
Chinese President Xi meets Putin in Moscow
Chinese President Xi meets Putin in Moscow
Politics World
//
Egypt’s only independent daily newspaper in English. Discuss the country’s latest with the paper’s reporters, editors, and other readers.

Quick Link

  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Interviews
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

© 2023 DNE News. All Rights Reserved.

Join Us!

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news, podcasts etc..

Zero spam, Unsubscribe at any time.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?