Region | Algeria
Youngsters lose appetite for Algeria vote
Algerian government worker Djamal Mekensi says he wants peace and prosperity for his country but doesn't think voting will make much difference.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:08 April 7, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- Supporters of Bouteflika react during his last campaign rally in Algiers. The 72-year-old president is running against five other candidates, all low-profile figures.
Algiers: Algerian government worker Djamal Mekensi says he wants peace and prosperity for his country but doesn't think voting will make much difference.
"I didn't vote in past elections," said the 30-year-old as he sat outside his family's apartment in Algiers. "I haven't changed my mind and I'm planning to stay at home again on April 9."
Djamal's family is divided over whether to take part in elections tomorrow that are widely expected to hand President Abdul Aziz Bouteflika a third term in office.
The differences in the family reflect a more general split between the political attitudes of Algeria's younger and older generations.
While Djamal won't vote, his father Mohammad says he is optimistic about the future and plans to visit the polling station a few metres from his home.
Mohammad contrasts Algeria today with the 1990s when the oil and gas exporting country was shaken by civil conflict.
Massacres traumatised the population and residents of Mohammad's working class neighbourhood of Bab Al Oued hid in their homes after sunset.
"I think all Algerians recognise that the security situation has improved a lot in the past 10 years," said Mohammad, a 56-year-old engineer.
He recently bought a car on credit, but complains about the rising cost of living and says he understands why younger Algerians struggling to find work have lost faith in politics.
The Soviet-style command economy has failed to produce enough jobs and the decline in political violence has yet to shift a social malaise that prompts many young Algerians to try to migrate illegally to Europe. He still expects Bouteflika will win a third, five-year term in office by a wide margin.
"The other candidates don't have a clear programme and nobody can imagine one of them taking over from Bouteflika."
Mohammad's family came to Bab Al Oued from the coastal town of Jijel after independence from France in 1962 and moved into a flat left empty after its colonial inhabitants emigrated.
Today, rising living costs mean his income hardly covers electricity and water bills, food and clothes for his family.
Djamal said Algeria's social ills cannot be solved until the remaining Islamist rebels are wiped out.
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