Bouguera Soltani, leader of the MSP (Islamist Movement for Society of Peace), or Hamas in Arabic, is hoping to take advantage of the success of other Islamist parties
in other North African countries that have held elections this last year. He
has
therefore withdrawn his party from the ruling coalition or 'presidential
alliance', as it is known, that comprises the FLN, the RND of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, and his own MSP. The final decision was made by the MSP's shoura (advisory
council) at its meeting at the end of December.
Soltani says that he wants to press for constitutional reform to limit the
powers of the president. He is on record as saying that he does not believe
that
Bouteflika is serious about reform and has warned that voters would snub the
ballot
box in large numbers if political reform is not implemented.
He said: “The regime is not serious when it talks about political reforms. It continues
to rule the country as it has always done... People continue to believe that
the
ballot is not the way for change….. Without serious reforms, the social front
will remain unstable.”
Most commentators believe that Soltani's real reason for leaving the coalition,
at least for the moment, as being to avoid losing votes in the upcoming
elections, or, as he would no doubt word it, to attract more of the country's
Islamist
voters. His problem is that his party's membership of the unpopular ruling
coalition, along with his own association with corruption scandals, could
result in a
collapse in the MSP vote as the Islamists support alternative parties.
As things stand at the moment, the MSP's departure from the ruling coalition
would not strip the government of its majority. Currently, however, the party
has a
big following among conservative Algerians. Whether they will continue to
support the party in the spring election is questionable. Soltani therefore
sees his
best chance of retaining support as being by trying to distance himself from
the
coalition. Few Algerians are likely to fall for it and most opinion is that the
MSP vote is likely to collapse.
The MSP was founded in 1990 by Mahfoud Nahnah and Algerian members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Nahnah, who died in 2003, changed the party's name from Hamas. The party
condemned the 1992 coup that led to the annulment of the 1992 elections, but
did join
the government coalition in 2004. The MSP currently has four ministers in minor
posts.
The FLN General-Secretary, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, is on record as saying that there will be no Islamist tidal wave in the
elections and that altogether the Islamists will not win more than 35 per cent
of the
vote.
For more news and expert analysis about Algeria, please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.
© 2012 Menas Associates