Algerian elections started by falsification accusations
Algeria, Politics, 4/7/2004

Algerians eligible to vote will head tomorrow to the ballot centers to cast their votes for electing the 8th President of the country, in an atmospheres overwhelmed by tension during the elections campaign which lasted for 19 days during which the 6 candidates for Presidency toured most of the 48 Algerian provinces and held more 800 people's gatherings, proposing their electoral programs and their perceptions to solve economic and social crises the Algerians are facing, giving promises in all the places where they held their people's festivals.

6 candidates are competing for the post of the Presidency. They are President Abdul Aziz Butaflika; the secretary general of the national liberation front party Ali Benflis; the chairman of the national reform movement Sheikh Abdullah Jabullah; the chairman of the coalition for culture and democracy Saeed Saadi, the secretary general of the labor party Mrs. Lueiza Hannoun, and the chairman of the party of " 1954 oath " Ali Fawzi Rabaain.

The 6 candidates concluded their elections campaigns by convening their last mass gatherings yesterday. The most remarkable of which was for the two main rivals, Butaflika and former prime minister BenFlis. The first ( Butaflika) held his last meeting in Hassan Hershal sport complex in the downtown of the capital Algiers, while the second held his last gathering in Bu'ezza sport playground in Burj al-Keifan, one of the capital's suburbs. Rabaain held his last gathering in Ibn Khaldoun hall which seats 400 audience. The other three candidates held their last meetings in other provinces that they had not visited during the campaign. Jabullah concluded his last meeting in Qalimah city to the east of Algeria and the birthplace of the late Algerian President Hawari Bumedian. Hannoun concluded her campaign in Sharshal city in Teibaza and Saaadi preferred to conclude his election campaign by holding a press seminar at the party's headquarters in al-Abyar suburb, at the beginning of which it was announced a falsification in the elections of the Algerian community in France, where ballot centers were opened for the Algerian community abroad on April 3. Number of Algerians eligible to vote abroad are 900,000, most of them are stationed in France. Both Benflis and Jabullah stressed that the voting operation in France witnessed "grave violations " for the interests of Butaflika. In a statement, the representatives of the three candidates said that "several ( Algerian) consulates in France financed the operations of transporting voters organized for one candidate who is Abdul Aziz Butaflika." They added " thousands of voters were transported this way to the ballot centers escorted by supporters to Butaflika." Moreover, Nomadic Bedouins started voting in the mobile ballot centers on Monday. Number of voters in mobile ballot centers is estimated at 176,000 voters to cast their votes in 402 mobile voting box.

Previous Stories:
  Ben Bella supports the re-election of Butaflika; Algeria: No candidate for the Salvation front   (4/6/2004)
  Algeria: elections committee calls on the government to limit violence   (4/3/2004)
  Boufelika: I will never let an Algerian die for Western Sahara   (4/2/2004)

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