Some visas granted to the foreign press for the early legislative elections in Algeria, on June 12th. Christian Chesnot, a major reporter for the international editorial staff of Radio France has discovered a country without horizons. A poll with a record abstention rate: 77% which benefits the power in place. And all layers of society, locked.
An absence of horizon. The commentary of Christian Chesnot barely disembarked from the plane which brought him back from Algiers is final. The major reporter for the international editorial staff of Radio France who covered the early parliamentary elections of June 12 did not recognize a country that is nevertheless familiar to him. Global disenchantment, an economy at a standstill, and a short-term political vision.
The participation, which stands at 23%, does not provoke any reaction from the power in place which is maintained. “Why to talk about the legitimacy of a vote when it is legal?” pleads Abdelmadjib Tebboune, the current president.
The Hirak, a movement from civil society that boycotted these elections, believes that this record abstention legitimizes the power in place. Whether legal or illegitimate, the result of this election is only the illustration of a sluggish society.
A society under a leaden cover
They are far from the demonstrations of Friday, of a youth who asks for a future and perspectives. 16,000 police officers crisscross the streets to prevent any gathering and reprisals hit the processions that are formed. A screed of lead falls on a country strangled by the economic crisis. Oil and gas have a timeline that does not go beyond 15 years.
Deprived of these resources, Algeria would sink inexorably. Listening to the testimonies collected during the elections, the political vision stops short-term and is reduced to maintaining public order. It is not a social project.
As for the freedom of the press, it is constantly violated
Khaled Drareni, imprisoned for several months, a correspondent for Reporters Without Borders is not the only one to be under pressure from the Algerian authorities. 70th day in prison for Rabah Kareche. AFP no longer has a correspondent in Algeria. On election night, France 24 had its accreditation withdrawn. Local correspondents operate under pseudonyms.
And as the 60th anniversary of independence approaches, Christian Chesnot hears in the speeches of the old generation in power, anti-French overtones, as if the evils of Algeria were the sole responsibility of France.
In spite of an obviously loaded history, this feeling is not found in the layers of the population which denounce the sclerotic system and does not believe anymore in much. Especially not to the policies that govern it.
