In a blunt interview with an Algerian media outlet, Atmane Mazouz, number 1 of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), said words that bluntly describe the political situation in Algeria. He thus attributes direct responsibility for the socio-economic porosity and political instability that reign there to the curatorship imposed by the military caste on the tenant of the El Mouradia palace. “For us, Tebboune is the head of state. He is not President of the Republic, as long as he has been designated. He enjoys no legitimacy», points out Atmane Mazouz.
“In a Republic, it is the people who are sovereign, it is they alone who can give mandate, in particular to the highest summit of the State. The current tenant of the presidential palace is the result of a coup led by the former army chief of staff», Remarks the boss of this party born in 1989, and which defines itself as secular. “He is a de facto president. For us, he is not President of the Republic, but a simple head of state“.
Tebboune’s assessment: a failure
Asked about the results of Tebboune’s first term, Mazouz is categorical: “The announcement of not completing this mandate signals failure. For the rest, from memory, I have not seen such problematic, incoherent governance and above all which confiscated all freedoms“.
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The president of the RCD also points out the leaden pall that is falling on freedom of opinion and expression in the country. “The number of people who have been in trouble with the law for expressing an opinion or the number of those who still remain in prison for the same offense needs no comment.“, he laments.
“Moreover, how can we describe a country which is experiencing rampant instability at all levels and prey to recurring shortages, endemic unemployment, deterioration of social services, reduced purchasing power and a collection failures on the diplomatic level», he asks himself in the same vein.
On the corruption side, the observation is also clear. For Mazouz, it has simply been elevated to the rank of political doxa. “Many Algerians aspire to socio-economic stability, better employment opportunities, quality health and education services. All this cannot be achieved with a power that has established repression, fraud and corruption as a mode of governance.», he thunders. “Algerians know that only democratic and legitimate institutions can give hope», adds Mazouz.
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As for the anticipated presidential election in Algeria, the leader of the RCD paints an equally gloomy, but pragmatic, picture. According to him, “rather, the conditions are met for upstream and downstream fraud to impose the candidate who will be favored by the decision-making college in order to impose the next overlord. A free and open election presupposes the opening of spaces of expression, public media and the removal of obstacles to the organization of society“.
“The anticipation or advancement of the presidential election can only be interpreted as a situation of deep crisis at the top of the system which signals the failure of the December 2019 coup.», he observes.
