The situation in Algeria, just weeks before presidential elections scheduled for April, is confusing. Abdelmadjid Menasra, leader of the opposition Islamist-affiliated Front for Change, met with Al-Monitor to share his views on the current environment.

According to Menasra, “The recent events in Algeria have to do with the elections, and they are the result of the absence of the president [Abdelaziz Bouteflika] from the leadership of the political scene because of his health. The president has yet to specify his position on whether or not he will run in the elections. Thus, there was a vacuum that some supporters of a fourth term [for Bouteflika] tried to fill. But they did this in a wrong way and were struck by confusion as the deadline for announcing candidacies approaches.” 

Menasra, who in 2010 left the Movement for the Society of Peace to found the Front for Change, went on to be more specific, clarifying, “Those supporting a fourth term for Bouteflika found themselves in a contradictory position. Some of them gathered signatures [in support of] the president, yet this was in violation of the law, since the president has not filled out the [official] forms to run. The interior minister responded to this, and [the government] responded violently to the statements of the secretary-general of the [National] Liberation Front [NLF] attacking the military security apparatus. Thus, a fourth term has become a complex problem for those supporting it, and this has prevented them from thinking about alternatives in the event that the president does not run in the upcoming elections.”

He concluded, “In addition, even if the president does decide to run, his health status will present many problems for his supporters related to the election campaign, [his] addressing the people, and going to vote on election day on April 17.”