Brussels, 03/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The somewhat reserved response from the EU to the request from Algiers to send observers to the presidential election on 17 April is raising debate in the Algerian media.
The European Commission said that it had received the request a little late and would only send two experts who would not be allowed to speak publicly. Algeria's Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra has been trying to defuse the effect of this laconic response: “The EU will nevertheless have a presence not only through its observation experts but also in the person of eminent figures invited by the Algerian government”, he is reported by daily newspaper Liberté-Algérie as stating. In the view of the newspaper, “Once bitten, twice shy! Having no doubt learned from the vicissitudes of supervision of the general elections of May 2012 when its officials were refused access to the electoral roll by the Ministry of the Interior”, the EU will be more cautious this time.
All this has not failed to bring a reaction from the Algerian government. A source at the Foreign Ministry, quoted yesterday by AFP, challenged the reason put forward by the Commission. This source stated that, “as soon as the election was called, Algeria made a request to EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, formalising the Algerian government's invitation”. Lamamra, according to the newspaper, cited “considerations relating to constraints on the operation of the European institutions and, in particular, calendar priorities and mobilisation of the financial resources required for observation missions” to explain the EU's response.
That the EU has expressed the importance it attaches to a “fair and transparent” vote indicates, according to the newspaper, that the forthcoming election might not have the approval of Europe. However, the main candidate, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is seeking a fourth term of office, has said through his spokesperson that “from 2014, there will be a change in the constitution. Algeria will be a broad-based democracy, a participative democracy. All citizens will be take part in the development of the country”. (FB)