Algerian legislative election, 2002

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Algerian legislative election, 2002

Flag of Algeria.svg


  1997 30 May 2002 2007  

All 389 seats to the People's National Assembly
195 seats were needed for a majority

  First party Second party Third party
  Bouteflika (Algiers, Feb 2006).jpeg Abdellah Djaballah.jpg Ahmed Ouyahia.jpg
Leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdallah Djaballah Ahmed Ouyahia
Party FLN Movement for National Reform RND
Last election 62 - 156
Seats won199 43 47
Seat changeIncrease2.svg137Increase2.svg43Decrease2.svg109
Popular vote2,618,003 705,319 610,461
Percentage34.3% 9.5% 8.2%
SwingIncrease2.svg20%Increase2.svg9.5%Decrease2.svg25.5%

Prime Minister before election

Ali Benflis
FLN

Elected Prime Minister

Ali Benflis
FLN

Algeria emb (1976).svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Algeria

The 2002 Algerian Legislative election was held in Algeria on 30 May 2002 to elect members of the People's National Assembly. The governing National Liberation Front (FLN) won a majority of seats in the election. The election suffered from a low turnout, violence and boycotts by some opposition parties.

Algeria country in North Africa

Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. The capital and most populous city is Algiers, located in the far north of the country on the Mediterranean coast. With an area of 2,381,741 square kilometres (919,595 sq mi), Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world, and the largest in Africa. Algeria is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the west by Morocco, to the southwest by the Western Saharan territory, Mauritania, and Mali, to the southeast by Niger, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. The country is a semi-presidential republic consisting of 48 provinces and 1,541 communes (counties). It has the highest Human development index of all non-island African countries.

Peoples National Assembly lower house of the Algerian Parliament

The People's National Assembly, abbreviated APN, is the lower house of the Algerian Parliament. It is composed of 462 members directly elected by the population. Of the 462 seats, 8 are reserved for Algerians living abroad. Members of the People's National Assembly are directly elected through proportional representation in multiple-member districts and serve terms lasting five years at a time. The last election for this body was held on 17 May 2017. This body and of the Algerian Parliament is seen as nonrepresentative of the Algerian people's interest because of the presidency, which controls the majority of governmental power. The minimum age required for election into the APN is 28.

National Liberation Front (Algeria) political party in Algeria

The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was the principal nationalist movement during the Algerian War and the sole legal and the ruling political party of the Algerian state until other parties were legalised in 1989.

Contents

Candidates

The election saw 10,052 candidates standing in the election from 23 political parties. Of the candidates, 694 were female and 1,266 were independents. [1]

Campaign

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced the date of the election on 20 February and the official campaign began on 9 May. [2] The President vowed that they would be free elections and warned people against undermining them. [3] However five opposition parties boycotted the election, the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), Republican National Alliance (ANR), Movement of Democrats and Socialists (MDS) and the Socialist Workers' Party (PST). [1] They claimed that previous elections in 1997 and 1999 were fraudulent and that this election would be no different. [4]

President of Algeria head of state of the Peoples Democratic Republic of Algeria

The President of Algeria is the head of state and chief executive of Algeria, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Algerian People's National Armed Forces.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika President of Algeria

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, GColIH is an Algerian politician who has been the fifth President of Algeria since 1999. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1963 to 1979. As President, he presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002, and he ended emergency rule in February 2011 amidst regional unrest. He was the president of the United Nations General Assembly for a term in 1974.

The Socialist Forces Front is a social democratic and secularist political party, mainly supported by Kabyles in Algeria. The FFS is a member of the Socialist International.

A survey carried out by Al-Watan newspaper showed that 70% would vote for one of the 3 parties in the ruling coalition, the FLN, National Rally for Democracy and the Movement of Society for Peace. [5] The FLN of Prime Minister Ali Benflis campaigned on a platform of unifying the different social groups of Algeria such as by regional development in the south. The RND, which had won the most seats at the last election in 1997, campaigned for economic liberalisation but was undermined by the lack of a base of support or a social ideology. [2] The leader of the RND, Ahmed Ouyahia, warned of the dangers of an Islamist victory but his concerns were dismissed by the interior minister. [1] The opposition Workers' Party led by Louisa Hanoune campaigned against outside interference in Algeria and against privatisation. [2]

Movement of Society for Peace

The Movement for the Society of Peace is an Islamist party in Algeria, led until his 2003 death by Mahfoud Nahnah. Its current leader is Bouguerra Soltani. It is aligned with the international Muslim Brotherhood.

Prime Minister of Algeria position

The Prime Minister of Algeria is the head of government of Algeria.

The campaign saw widespread apathy with many people seeing the parliament as toothless and the military as remaining the main power. [6] The FLN attempted to raise interest in the election by doing things such as creating a rap song for younger people. [2] However the poll by El Watan showed that over a third planned not to vote and in areas such as Bab el-Oued election billboards were mostly empty. [3] [7] High unemployment, water and housing shortages were also seen as contributing to the apathy in the election. [4]

Election day

On the day before the election 23 people were killed in Sendjas by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in continued violence from the Algerian Civil War. [8] On polling day itself security forces were out in force in Algiers with many roadblocks to prevent terrorist attacks. [4]

Sendjas is a town and commune in Chlef Province, Algeria. According to the 1998 census it has a population of 26,228.

Algerian Civil War 1991-2002 civil war in Algeria

The Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict between the Algerian Government and various Islamic rebel groups which began in 1991 following a coup negating an Islamist electoral victory. The war began slowly as it first appeared the government had successfully crushed the Islamist movement, but armed groups emerged to fight jihad and by 1994, violence had reached such a level that it appeared the government might not be able to withstand it. By 1996–7 however it became clear that the violence and predation of the Islamists had lost its popular support, although fighting continued for several years after.

Algiers City in Algiers Province, Algeria

Algiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria. In 2011, the city's population was estimated to be around 3,500,000. An estimate puts the population of the larger metropolitan city to be around 5,000,000. Algiers is located on the Mediterranean Sea and in the north-central portion of Algeria.

In the north eastern Kabylie region a general strike was organised and running battles took place in the regional capital Tizi Ouzou to try to prevent the election from taking place in the region. Throughout much of the area polling stations were deserted and many did not open at all. [9]

Results

The results saw the National Liberation Front win a clear majority of seats. The party won over triple the seats it won at the last election, going from 64 to 199 seats. [6] The RND dropped from 156 seats to 47 in a disastrous result for the party. [10] The moderate Islamist parties suffered a small overall decline in support, with the MSP losing half its seats but the Movement for National Reform made gains and won 43 seats. [2]

Turnout in the election was the lowest yet since independence in 1962. [4] Only 47% of the registered voters turned out to vote, compared to 63% in the 1997 election. [4] 25 women were elected, 18 from the FLN, and after the election the number of women ministers was increased from one to five. [2]

e    d  Summary of the 30 May 2002 Algerian People's National Assembly election results
PartiesVotes% of VotesSeats
National Liberation Front (Jabhat at-Taḥrīr al-Waṭaniyy / Front de Libération National)2.618.00334.3199
Movement for National Reform (Ḥarakat al-Iṣlāḥ al-Waṭaniyy / Mouvement du Renouveau National)705.3199.543
National Rally for Democracy (at-Tajammu` al-Waṭaniyy ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyy / Rassemblement National Démocratique)610.4618.247
Movement for the Society of Peace (Ḥarakat Mujtama` as-Silm / Mouvement de la Société pour la Paix)523.4647.038
Workers' Party (Ḥizb al-`Ummāl / Parti des Travailleurs)245.7703.321
Algerian National Front (al-Jabhah al-Waṭaniyyah al-Jazā'iriyyah / Front National Algérien)113.7001.68
Islamic Renaissance Movement (Ḥarakat an-Nahḍah / Mouvement de la Renaissance Islamique)48.1320.61
Party of Algerian Renewal (Ḥizb at-Tajdīd al-Jazā'iriyy / Parti du Renouveau Algérien)19.8730.31
Movement of National Understanding (Ḥarakat al-Wifāq al-Waṭaniyy / Mouvement de l'Entente Nationale)14.4650.21
Non-partisans365.5944.930
Front of Socialist Forces (Jabhat al-Quwā al-Ištirākiyyah / Front des Forces Socialistes)

Rally for Culture and Democracy (at-Tajammu` min 'ajl aṯ-Ṯaqāfah wad-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah / Rassemblement pour la Culture et la Démocratie)
Movement for Democracy in Algeria (al-Ḥarakah min 'ajl ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah fī al-Jazā'ir / Mouvement pour la démocratie en Algérie)

boycott
Total (turnout 46.2%)  389

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Guide to Algeria elections". BBC Online . 2002-05-28. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Algeria - Diminishing Returns: Algeria's 2002 Legislative Elections(ICG Report)". ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. 2002-05-28. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  3. 1 2 "Algeria Holds Elections, and Few Care". Fox News Channel . 2002-05-30. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ruling party wins Algeria election". CNN . 2002-05-31. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  5. "Berbers boycott polls". Al-Ahram . 2002-05-30. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  6. 1 2 "Ruling NLF Makes Gains in Algerian Poll". The St. Petersburg Times . 2002-06-04. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  7. "Algeria: Boycott, Violence Roil Algerian Elections". AllAfrica.com . 2002-05-30. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  8. Tremlett, Giles (2002-05-31). "Death and dissent as Algeria goes to polls". London: guardian.co.uk . Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  9. "Protesters boycott Algerian polls". BBC Online . 2002-05-30. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  10. "Algerian Insurgency". GlobalSecurity.org. Archived from the original on 14 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-02.