Last week I called my twenty-year-old nephew Karim who lives in Algiers. “So – I said – what’s your view on the next elections?”. “It’s going to be a bit difficult for Royal – he replied – Sarkozy is tough and Bayrou is very cunning because he is already thinking about the next legislative elections. However, I hope Segolène Royal wins”. I was shocked to hear the names of the candidates of the French presidential elections. “Karim – I responded – I was asking you to talk to me about the Algerian legislative elections of 17th May, not the elections in France!”. At which point he burst out laughing: “Over here, uncle dear – he clarified – les jeux sont fait (the bets have been placed), whereas in France the game is still open until the last vote have been cast”. The chat with my nephew is very indicative because it reflects the state of mind of the Algerian people on the eve of these elections. There are two important questions to ask: Why are Algerians interested in the French presidential elections and have supported Royal? And from where does the popular resignation towards this Algerian electoral engagement stem?

First. France has never liberated itself completely from Algeria because of the Algerian immigrants and their children who for years now have been living in French cities. Today the majority of the Algerian population would like to emigrate, and France is the first preferred destination. It is said that if Royal had been elected, she would have followed François Mitterrand’s example, who in 1981 promulgated the indemnity in favour of illegal immigrants, and facilitated the entrance procedures into France. It is a good idea to remember that every Algerian is a potential immigrant. Second. In Arabic countries the elections are decisions are decided beforehand. But when, miraculously, the elections are slightly free, the people then go to vote to spite the government in power for many years, to punish the leaders for corruption, for the failings. For many it is essentially a question of a vote of protest as we saw after the victories of Hamas and the Muslim Brothers in Egypt. Algerians, however, remember very well the legislatives of 1991, won by the fundamentalists of Fis (Islamic Salvation Front).

In that occasion, the majority of public opinion was not in favour of the integrationalist and popular ideas of the Fis, but was decidedly against the Fln (Algerian National Front) staying in power. Therefore, those elections, which sanctioned the beginning of the years of lead causing the deaths of 200 thousand people in 7 years, were a popular protest against the workings of the Fln since independence in 1962. The vote of protest is counterproductive and has a high cost because it opens the doors of power to fundamentalists, known for their demagogy. One could even speak of a “kamikaze vote” because it is self-destructive and strengthens totalitarian regimes, and as a result goes against the interests of the majority of the population. It seems that the Algerians have learnt from the lesson of 1991. There will therefore be no surprises, because the fundamentalists will not have the majority in parliament. Nevertheless there will probably be a high level of absenteeism and this should be interpreted as a protest against the hegemonic party of the Fln. In the end, it is important to remember that voting is not the only thermometer which measures the state of good health of the democracy of a country. There are more efficient criteria such as the separation of institutional powers, the independence of the magistrate, freedom of the press, etc.

Translation by Sonia Ter Hovanessian