Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s victory of a 3rd presidential term at the Algerian elections held on April 9th was a surprise to no one. His re-“re-election” for another 5 years with a whopping 90 percent of the votes was even less surprising. After all, he has already ruled for two consecutive terms and his party and political supporters were the major driving force behind passing the constitutional amendment that abolished the two-term limit for a president of the republic. What is surprising, however, is the turnout rate released by the Algerian interior ministry, showing that 75 percent of Algerians cast their ballots this past week, compared to 58 percent turnout during the elections of 2004.
Political observers and analysts, and anyone familiar with Algerian politics, know that over the past decade Algerians’ participation in political or civil society in general has been very limited compared to the size of the population and the size of the country’s social and economic ills.
Following the suspension of the 1992 elections that led to a brutal civil war, scores of Algerian politicians, intellectuals, civil activists, and regular citizens who were involved in any aspect of public or civic matters were killed. The violence and fear scared many people away from participation in politics or civil society; not to mention the sluggish economy and high levels of unemployment and immigration to Europe and the Gulf countries.
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