Campaigning began yesterday for elections in Algeria next month seen as a test of reforms designed to avert the kind of discontent that led to a string of revolutions elsewhere in the region.
Turnout will be a key barometer in the May 10 vote.. a crucial phase in the life of the nation
Deadly riots in the north African country in January 2011 coincided with an uprising in neighbouring Tunisia that sparked the so-called Arab Spring which also ousted the rulers of Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika responded by promising reforms, allowing 23 new political parties and 73 new seats in the Parliament.
The government also raised salaries and accelerated work on building more than a million homes, promised in 1999 when Mr Bouteflika first assumed the presidency in the country, which is rich in oil and gas.
Algerians have taken to the streets and staged strikes or other actions to press demands for more secure employment, better employment prospects for youths, higher wages and more lodging.
Unemployment has fallen in recent years to around 11 percent, but it is much higher among youths in the country of 35 million people.
Turnout will be a key barometer in the May 10 vote, which Mr Bouteflika called a “crucial phase” in the life of the nation, urging people to go to the polls.
The elections are “a decisive gamble which it is incumbent on us to win, because we have no other choice but to succeed”, he said in a message to mark Algeria’s Day of Knowledge today.
Another key question will be how well Islamist candidates fare, notably after their counterparts won power in Tunisia and Egypt.
It is a delicate question in Algeria, where an Islamist party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), was prevented from winning polls in 1992 that it was set to win.
The military stepped in to halt the vote, plunging Algeria into a decade-long civil war that claimed some 200,000 lives. Mr Bouteflika’s reconciliation plan offering amnesty in return for the laying down of weapons finally restored peace to the country.