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Algeria approves new political parties

By Lyes Aflou for Magharebia in Algiers

In a move to boost political pluralism, Algeria is preparing to announce new political parties.
The Algerian government is set to announce on Wednesday (February 1st) a new list of political parties permitted to hold their first congress, Tout sur l'Algerie reported.

The National Front for Social Justice (FNJS) held its congress on Tuesday (January 31st). More than 700 party supporters gathered in Tipasa, El Moudjahid reported. The FNJS was among eleven parties granted permission by the interior ministry.

The Front for Change (FC) on Tuesday became the latest party to be approved. The party is chaired by former Industry Minister and leading member of the Islamist Society Movement of Peace (MSP) Abdelmadjid Menasra.

The FC will hold it congress on February 17th.

The other approved formations included the Free Citizens Movement (MCL), the Union for Democracy and Republic (UDR), the Freedom and Justice Party (PLJ), Jil Jadid (JJ), the New Algeria Front (FAN), the El Moustakbal Front (FM), the Youth Party (PJ), the El Karama Party (PK) and Abdellah Djaballah's Islamist Justice and Development Front.

More applications are being processed by the administration.

"No application for approval is being turned away," the interior minister said at a Senate plenary session.

"We are waiting for some parties' applications to be completed, but we have not closed the door to any of them. All applications will be assessed in accordance with the law, but we shall take as long as we need to," Dahou Ould Kablia told the press.

He reminded them the law states that approval is conditional upon the submission of the outcome of the constitutional assembly, which must be representative of the country as a whole.

FAN chief Djamel Benabdeslam, a defector from the Islamist party El Islah, said he was delighted at the decision to allow new parties, which opens the way to "involvement in the legislative elections".

"The interior ministry dealt very swiftly with our application," he commented. "This means we shall be legally entitled to play a part in the political life of this country, particularly once we've held our assembly on 11 February."

His feelings were shared by MCL chairman Mustapha Boudina, who recalled how he had waited 13 years for the administration's go-ahead.

"We're happy with this permission, which will enable us to organise our constitutional assembly," he said.

The newly founded party, however, faces financial hurdles, he commented.

"We don't even have the resources to organise our assembly, which is planned to take place February 15th-20th," Boudina told Horizons on January 26th. "We now have to wait for the state to subsidise us so that we can play a proper role in the elections, because without that help I don't see how we're going to be able to embark on an election campaign."

Meanwhile, PLJ leader Mohamed Saïd said that the approval was a logical outcome of the recently introduced political reforms.

"It was predictable, and we wouldn't have expected anything else," he said.

For his part, Djaballah had frequently predicted in public that permission to hold the assembly would be granted as a precursor to legal recognition. He has called for the congress to take place on February 5th.

© Magharebia.com 2012