Algeria : Parties prepare for local elections

The local elections on 29 November is already mobilizing political parties which during weekend activities to prepare their members for the electoral event, while the Ministry of the Interior invited the candidates to withdraw the necessary documents for candidature. The Ministry of the Interior has brought to the attention of those who want to run for the local elections that the withdrawal of necessary documents can be made at the competent services of the province. President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika, had convened Saturday the electorate for Thursday, November 29, 2012 for the election of members of the People’s Provincial and communal Assemblies, under the provisions of the Organic Law No. 12-01 of 12 January 2012 on the electoral system. Parties working on the ground In anticipation of this event, the parties began preparations through meetings with their militant base in preparation for November 29 elections and run for the seats of the 1541 communal assemblies and 48 provincial assemblies, attracting the maximum voice. Thus, the National Liberation Front (FLN) party Secretary General Abdelaziz Belkhadem, said he expected a "win" for his party in the upcoming local elections. For its part, President of the Algerian National Front (FNA) Moussa Touati, has announced the installation, on September 15, of a preparatory committee, at the party in anticipation of local elections. Touati said at a meeting with the party executives in Algiers that his party "exert much effort in preparing for the upcoming local elections through conferences to be ended by a conference in anticipation of the November 29 elections." For him, the next electoral event is of "great importance", hence the need for activists to understand and to explain to voters the prerogatives of municipal and provincial assemblies. Support for political reforms In M’sila, the secretary general of the National Republican Alliance (ANR), Belkacem Sahli, said that "the participation" of his party in local elections is an "ongoing support to political reforms in Algeria. El Karama party, meanwhile, completed the installation of the National Commission for the preparation of local elections. The commission set up during a meeting that brought together the provincial general secretaries, chaired by Mohamed Benhamou is to define the conditions for candidatures to local elections and to oversee the program action relating to the preparation of this event.