Election of Algerian umma council starts today

About 70,000 members of Algerian municipal councils will go to the ballots today to participate in the first election of the Algerian Umma council, which is the second chamber of the parliament.

Algerian President Zeroual will appoint the one third (48) of the council's members, who will be selected from the national dignitaries in the economic, social, cultural, and scientific fields. A number of parties had submitted lists of their nominees for this council.

Like the previous Algerian elections, the Umma council election comes amid an escalation of terrorist operations and the terrorists' insistence on carrying out their operations in remote villages and suburbs. Terrorists are also expected to threaten voters who will participate in the election and try to assassinate some of the heads of the municipal councils.

Observers of the situation in Algeria believe that terrorist operations will not affect the participation of Algerians in the election. They also added that each step taken by Algeria on the road of democracy will remove one of the shields for terrorism and will remove all political covers which the terrorists had worn during the past years.