Split parties, stout leaders

President Bouteflika looks vulnerable ahead of the elections as politicians fall out

The elite is at war again, this time with each other. At stake in the power-struggle, a particularly vicious and unprincipled one even by Algeria's standards, is incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's position as front-runner in the presidential election next April. Boutef, the generals' candidate in the 1999 election, faces a strong challenge from sacked Prime Minister Ali Benflis plus two other establishment figures. This time the generals, including the Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed Lamari, say the army will stay 'neutral'. At the least, the generals will share their political largesse more widely.

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Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ali, Benflis, Mohammed Lamari, Boutef versus Benflis, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, Mouloud Hamrouche, Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, Abdallah Djaballah, Ahmed Ouyahia, Abdelmajid Sidi Saïd, Abdelkrim Harchaoui, Chakib Khelil, Abdelmoumen Rafik Khalifa, Variations on an Islamist theme, Mahfoud Nahnah, Bechir Ibrahimi, Ibrahim Ben Badis, Nourredine 'Yazid' Zerhouni, Abbasi Madani, Ali Belhadj, Malaysia, Front de Libération Nationale, groupes de redressement, El Islah, Assemblée Populaire Nationale, Front des Forces Socialistes, Rassemblement pour la Culture et la Démocratie, Rassemblement National Démocratique, Union Générale de Travailleurs Algériens, El Islah, Mouvement de la Société pour la Paix, El Islah, Wafa, Front Islamique du Salut, Wafa, Wafa

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