Algeria army pledges neutrality in upcoming legislative elections

The Algerian army said yesterday that the military institution will remain neutral during the upcoming legislative elections scheduled for Saturday, and refuses to be dragged into the political game taking place in the country.

In an editorial published in June’s issue of the Army magazine, the mouthpiece of the military establishment in the country, the institution said:: “On the eve of a milestone electoral event for the future of our country, the legislative elections, the military establishment insists on clearing out any confusion that some people intend to set.”

“We remind once again those with selective memory that the People’s National Army is irreversibly a republican army that assumes its constitutional duties as required by the laws of the republic,” the Army institution added.

“The army refuses to be dragged into the game played by those who have gone astray, and refuses to be a vehicle for those who, by failing to mobilise the masses and gain their trust, are searching in vain for justifications for their failures and disappointments, ” the magazine said.

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The army command did not specify the parties to whom the statement was addressed.

According to the editorial, the army “shuns itself away from interfering in any electoral process unless to ensure the appropriate conditions that would guarantee elections are held in a calm and secure manner, with the aim of allowing our people to express freely and transparently their free choice of who represents them in the legislative authority without pressure or coercion.”

“The members of the military will participate with their fellow citizens in the performance of the electoral duty by casting their votes freely,” the editorial continued, indicating that the law allows military personnel to vote in their place of residence, either directly or by proxy via their families.

Algeria yesterday entered the stage of electoral silence ahead of the elections. Some 22,000 candidates, mostly independents, are competing for 407 seats in the National People’s Assembly (the first chamber of parliament).