Thousands in Algeria call for poll boycott

Published March 23, 2014 · Updated September 24, 2022

Algerians attend the gathering organised by opposition political parties calling for a boycott of presidential elections on 17 April Rival Islamist and secular party opposition supporters attended Friday's rally.

Al-jazeera.com :Algerian opposition parties have rallied several thousand supporters to call for a boycott of next month’s election and to reject President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s run for another term after 15 years in power.Bouteflika, the 77-year-old veteran of Algeria’s independence war, registered for the April 17 ballot despite suffering a stroke last year that opponents say has left him unfit to govern for another five years.Chanting “Boycott” and “The people want the regime out,” around 5,000 people packed in an Algiers sports stadium where Islamist leaders and secular parties denounced Bouteflika’s bid and called for reforms to a political system they see as corrupt.”The people here are the people who have been excluded, who have been put aside, but this is the real Algeria,” Mohsen Belabes, a leader with the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) party, told cheering crowds.