Critics who go well beyond the ranks of Hirak activists – most recently including respected ex-premier Mouloud Hamrouche – deny there has been real consultation on a document ordained from above...
This government might include other figures who have retained some integrity such as former Prime Ministers Mouloud Hamrouche (though he has said he's not interested) Ali Benflis (a distinguished human rights lawyer and former FLN head who fell out with Bouteflika) and Ahmed Benbitour who has aligned with the Mouwatana opposition movement (AC Vol 55 No 12 Adrift in dangerous waters)...
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A mid-January appearance of respected early 1990s prime minister Mouloud Hamrouche led to the usual speculation that a credible alternative candidate might emerge but this is unlikely...
The local press will continue to recycle talk of constitutional revisions – including the appointment of a vice-president – and a possible mid-term retirement that might allow a regime-approved civilian politician to take office such as Presidential Office Director Ahmed Ouyahia Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal reformist ex-Premier Mouloud Hamrouche or regular presidential candidate Ali Benflis...
The respected former Prime Minister Mouloud Hamrouche wisely refused invitations to take part in the elections...
Former FLN Secretary General Abdelaziz Belkhadem is among several mentioned as potential candidates but they such as the respected late 1980s Premier Mouloud Hamrouche and others have powerful enemies...
Genuine candidates such as former President Lamine Zéroual and former Premier Mouloud Hamrouche had decided it was not even worthwhile signalling any real interest in standing...
Vol 45 No 1 |
- NORTH AFRICA
Other potential establishment candidates include the Arab-Islamist totem former Foreign Minister Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi and several ex-premiers including Mouloud Hamrouche...
Possible contenders now include: ex-Premier (until 1991) Mouloud Hamrouche; ex-Foreign Minister Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi; and leading 'legalised' Islamist politician Sheikh Abdallah Djaballah who leads El Islah (National Reform Movement) and has built on his Skikda regional power base to make his party the third largest in the Assemblée Populaire Nationale...
Long-time observers of economic policy believe the government backed by Bouteflika's aide Abdelhak Bouhafs (now returned to running state energy company Sonatrach) will revive the reformist programme advocated since Mouloud Hamrouche's government in the late 1980s - but without the privatising zeal its foreign supporters expect...
