ALGERIA’S President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won a second term of office. The state television service was highly partial during the elections, but Algeria has a diverse press which adequately represented opposition views. Nor according to international observers was there any obvious ballot rigging
For the first time the army, which has been the real power in the country for almost 30 years, remained neutral. The president has therefore been re-elected on his record, including the effective end of the bloody 12-year insurrection that claimed more than 100,000 lives and a return of much-needed stability.
But Bouteflika cannot rest on his laurels. There are significant messages in his victory which he will ignore at his peril. For a start, only 52 percent of the electorate bothered to vote. The poll was largely boycotted by the Berber community, who are demanding greater rights including the recognition of their Tamazight language. His new administration would do well to address the issue of the Berbers as early as feasible. The strength of his electoral mandate means that Bouteflika can act with authority, but it should not tempt him to take a hard line with the Berbers.
Algerians now are looking for reconciliation. The vicious civil war in which both insurgents and the authorities have been guilty of terrible crimes reached a pitch where everyone became exhausted by the violence and terror. This is a nation that wants to rediscover peace and prosperity.
Peace may prove easier to achieve than prosperity. Ever since independence from France, Algeria has pursued a muddle-headed policy of state socialism. Only the state-owned oil company Sonatrach, the country’s main source of foreign income, betrayed the slightest sign of good governance, and even there commercial decisions have often been subjected to capricious political interference.
In his second term, the president must address the issue of economic reform. The state must get out of business, encourage foreign investment and allow the private sector to make a living without the irksome burden of laws drafted during the high waters of socialism under Ben Bella and Boumedienne. This will mean tackling some of the cozy business arrangements of the military which have produced an undertow of corruption. The generals have so far had the wisdom to stand back from the political process. It must be hoped that their good sense will not now desert them.
Unless Algeria’s economy can begin to work properly, unemployment and low living standards will remain a breeding ground for disaffection. Though the men of violence have slunk back into the shadows, they have not yet gone away.
