Elections in Algeria

Algeria elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five year term by the people. People's National Assembly ("al-Majlis al-Sha'abi al-Watani/Assemblé Populaire Nationale") has 380 members, elected for a five year term in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation. Eight seats in the national assembly are reserved for Algerians abroad. The Council of the Nation ("Majlis al-Umma/Conseil de la Nation") has 144 members, 96 members elected by communal councils and 48 members appointed by the president. Algeria has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. According to the OSCE, Algierian elections are generally free and fair.

Latest elections

2007 Legislative elections

These elections were marked by a turnout of 35%, the lowest of any Algerian election to date ( [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EAD77C49-59FD-420E-B17E-39554B3DB923.htm] [http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=308765&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/] ). The former ruling party, the FLN, obtained the largest number of seats, with 136. It was followed by its two governing partners, the RND, with 61, and the Islamist MSP, with 52 seats. The latter parties gained seats at the expense of the FLN, which lost 38 seats in comparison with its result in 2002.

The radical leftist Workers' Party (PT) led by Louiza Hannoune obtained 26 seats, becoming the largest force in parliament after the governing coalition; the secularist Berber RCD obtained 19 seats, reentering parliament after a boycott in 2002 had left the party without representation there. The other Islamist party, Islah (split, with one wing calling for a boycott of the election), lost heavily, maintaining only 3 seats, versus 43 in the previous parliament. Independents, with 33 seats (3 more than in the previous parliament), and a number of smaller parties shared the rest of the seats.

Several groups, notably the leftist Front of Socialist Forces, [http://www.ffs-dz.com/article.php?id_article=419] leading members of the former Islamic Salvation Front (notably Abbassi Madani [http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/05/16/feature-01] and Ali Belhadj), and the newly formed organisation Rachad [http://en.rachad.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=69&Itemid=37] called on their supporters to boycott these elections. The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb also issued a video calling participation in the elections "a great sin".

2004 Presidential election

2002 Parliamentary election

Past elections

* Algerian local election, 1990

ee also

* Electoral calendar
* Electoral system

References

External links

* [http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/algeria/ Adam Carr's Election Archive]