Ali Benflis was President Bouteflika’s campaign director in 1999 and was named prime minister in 2000. He quit as prime minister in 2003 and unsuccessfully challenged Bouteflika in 2004 and again in 2014.
Ali Benflis to Run for President in Algeria
‘On Sunday, January 20, 2019, I sent a letter to the interior minister, in which I announced my intention to prepare my file as a candidate for the presidential election in the republic [of Algeria],’ Benflis was quoted as saying by the Al Watan newspaper.
It should be noted that in 2000 Benflis was actually in charge of Bouteflika’s presidential campaign and was subsequently appointed Prime Minister in August of the same year.
Benflis will turn 72 in 2019 and now maybe the time has come for him. A long-serving secretary general of the FLN and at odds with Abdelaziz Bouteflika since 2003, Benflis never ceased, as a lawyer and human rights activist, to denounce corruption, electoral fraud and malpractice at multiple institutional levels. He is well acquainted with the Algerian political system and knows that – if he is given the opportunity – he would be in the best position to unite many forces of the country, in order to counter the disturbing rise of Islamists and support sociopolitical development.
Unlike many other isolated contenders, Ali Benflis became, after creating his own party in 2015, Talaie El Hourriyet, the main opponent of Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Ali Benflis is not like any other, run-of-the-mill Algerian politician. Unlike Abdelaziz Bouteflika, he is a Berber. He is a Batna native, the capital of the ‘Aurès’, this infamous mountain range, mainly populated by the Berber people Chaoui. More than any other presidential aspirant, he has the political experience, the ability to unite people from all walks of life, the local network and a broad agenda of national development.
It is no secret that Algeria in the 21st century is blighted by political stagnation. Power rests in the hands of a corrupt military and political oligarchy that denies people the right to self-determination, while effectively operating for the benefit of domestic and international capital.
Until now, Ali Benflis has been patiently waiting, opting for a cautious strategy for months, in order to gain the upper hand over the Algerian political class -all parties combined- as a means to reinforce his image as a moderate unifier. 2019 could be the year that all the clans in power, i.e. the army, the oligarchs, will come to the rescue of Algeria.
What is Ali Benflis’ program to re-animate Algeria? A profound reform of the State and institutions of the country is of paramount importance. Benflis has a vast road map that includes a. strengthening the macroeconomic stability and the maintenance of high rates of economic growth, b. increasing the competitiveness of the national economy by deepening structural reforms, and by modernizing and diversifying its leading industries, c. the continuation of institutional and structural reforms aimed at creating a functional equipoise to clientelistic and nepotistic practices and d. stimulating the development of a political pluralism, in order to open the country to the world.
It is perhaps important to note that no one in Algeria can be really fooled into thinking that the president in his current health condition is anything other than a figurehead for the shadowy figures around him, who really run government affairs. By putting an absentee president up for election at a time when the nation is desperate for rejuvenation, they are delivering a cynical message to Algerians: that their hopes, frustrations and despair do not matter. At this point, Benflis could be Algeria’s one and only chance.
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