Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Algeria president to abolish term limits
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- Algeria's president is giving himself the constitutional right to stay in power, announcing plans Wednesday to abolish term limits that would have prevented him from seeking a third term next spring.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika said in a speech broadcast from Algeria's supreme court that he wants to bring "stability, efficiency and continuity" to the oil- and gas-rich nation, which is rattled by an Islamic insurgency with ties to al-Qaida.
Bouteflika is 71, has had serious health problems and has already served two terms -- the limit under the current constitution. Critics said the move is a step away from democracy, and favors the political and military elites that have long held power in the North African country.
Khadija Mohsen-Finan, a North Africa specialist at the IFRI think tank in Paris, said the move showed that Algeria's power-brokers had agreed Bouteflika was "the best person to maintain the opacity of the current status-quo."
"They've created a political vacuum that makes any real alternative impossible," she said by phone. "Their goal seems to be simply to remain in power."
In his speech, Bouteflika said several constitutional amendments are planned -- including reform of political accountability and a reorganization of power that would make the prime minister answerable to the president rather than to Parliament.
The key measure appeared to be what the president described as ending term limits in order to "give the people the freedom to chose their leaders without limiting their choices." Bouteflika said the changes would allow for a "strong, united and coherent" government and would "avoid ambivalence" in decision-making, national radio reported.
He did not explicitly announce that he would run for a third term but said the end of term limits would "allow the people to exercise their legitimate right to chose their leaders and to renew them their confidence in all sovereignty."
Limitations are not right, he said, because "the relationship between an elected leader and the citizens ... is grounded on popular choice."
Supporters credit the president for being a unifying figure who ended the decade-long civil war between the army-backed, secular-leaning government and Islamists that killed an estimated 200,000 people in the 1990s. Allies view a possible third Bouteflika term as way to maintain stability and promote economic and social reform in Algeria.
"We fully support the president's decision to let the people chose their leader freely," said Abdesselam Bouchareb, chief of staff for Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia's RND party.
"A third term will allow the consolidation of our national recovery," said Bouchareb. The RND is a key member of the presidential coalition along with Bouteflika's National Liberation Front, which has dominated the political scene since Algeria's independence from France in 1962.
Some observers had expected a move to allow Bouteflika to run again, but preferred a national referendum. Bouteflika said he would push the changes through Parliament instead -- arguing that a referendum is necessary under the constitution only if the "fundamental balance of powers" is affected.
The State-run Alger Chaine 3 radio said high ranking government officials expected a parliamentary vote next month. A constitutional change would require a three-fourths majority in a combined meeting of both parliamentary chambers.
Most parties in Parliament are allied with the president and many party leaders have voiced support for Bouteflika running for a third term. Critics say a huge recent salary increase for lawmakers could smooth passage of the constitutional changes.
Moussa Touati, who heads the FNA nationalist opposition party in parliament and who plans to run for president next year, said "the legal way" to change the constitution should be through a referendum.
"And even so, most democracies have moved to a two-term presidential limit, this is a step backward," Touati told The Associated Press. "One shouldn't abuse authority to maintain oneself in power."
Mohsen-Finan said the plan to sidestep a referendum shows that governing circles knew the move is unpopular -- and it would face the possibility of a large boycott.
Bouteflika became president in 1999, replacing Gen. Liamine Zeroual after a brash political campaign tarnished by fraud charges that drove his six rivals to pull out on the eve of the vote.
He was re-elected by a landslide in 2004 to serve five more years. International observers hailed that election as one of the Arab world's best, despite persistent allegations of corruption and democratic abuses.
His proposed reform would be the sixth constitutional change since independence. The current constitution took effect in 1996 after the army canceled the 1992 legislative elections that an Islamist party was poised to win.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
