Algerian parties' leaders try to attract citizens' votes

The Algerian political formations begin in attracting the attention of the Algerian citizen, who  does not care about the election, scheduled to be held in May. This raised the fears of the authorities and political parties of the growing phenomenon election-aversion.
 
On Saturday, the heads of old and newly emerging political parties, took to the streets in an attempt to feel the pulse of the street just days before the starting date of the election campaign.

The Secretary-General of the ruling party, Djamel Ould Abbas, took to the streets of the eastern provinces in an attempt to calm the anger of activists and retrieval of electoral atmosphere for the party, after the most of these provinces' citizens threatened to boycott  the electoral campaign, because of the electoral lists, which released by the party's leadership last week. 

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of Workers' Party, Louisa Hanoun, and Secretary General of the Popular Movement, Emara Ben Younes, also took to the streets of different regions of Algeria province.
Ben Younes suggested, on Saturday, a controversial proposal, calling, during the meeting for preparing the election campaign, for voting compulsory in order to avoid the boycott, which is often, stressing that the high participation rate is one of the guarantees of transparency and democracy.

The parties, which will run for the election, will face a very difficult task, to convince the citizens to go to the polls and vote, especially in light of the deteriorating atmosphere of the elections, because of the corruption that has accompanied the process of adjusting the electoral lists. According to media reports, leaders of some parties and members of their families are implicated in buying and selling lists.

The rate of participation in the parliamentary elections, held in 2012,  reached to 35 per cent. The Algerian Interior Minister, Dahou Ould Kablia, revealed that the turnout was about 35%, two hours before the polls closed, and exceeded 40% in 18 states, and averaged 50% in the number of provinces. The turnout in the 2007 elections stood at 35.6%, and is considered the minimum participation in the history of elections since the country's independence in 1962.