Algeria to Allow Opponents to Participate in Elections

For the first time in over a decade, the Algerian government has decided to give 10 new opposition parties the opportunity to register officially as political entities. Algeria, which in the 1990′s endured over a decade of civil war resulting in the deaths of nearly 200,000 Algerians,  has more or less remained passive as  neighbors Libya, Egypt, Tunisia overthrew their respective leaders with hopes of developing legitimate representation.

Analysts contend that Algeria, with “massive youth unemployment and “lack of democratic accountability”, is ripe for revolution. Opposition groups say reforms recently enacted by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika are “only paying lip service to greater freedoms” and are quick to reassure observers that the government is maintaining “tight control on the political scene”. Limited reforms, such as the lifting of a 19-year emergency law and promising an end to the monoplization of media, are examples of developments which have taken place since December.

Four months away from a parliamentary election, Algerian authorities have also decided to delegate the task of election monitoring to a “commission of judges” and have also invited the E.U. to have a role acting as independent observers. U.S. Secretrary of State Hilary Clinton praised the Algerian authorities calling their actions, “”very significant.” Others feel that reforms are purely cosmetic and  ”opponents of the government say the ruling elite which has run Algeria for decades, with support from the military, is showing no signs it is prepared to relinquish power.”