Algeria: the crisis threatening the end of the National Liberation Front
The political crisis in Algeria is increasingly affecting government institutions. Following the creation of a National Coordination Committee for the Salvation of the National Liberation Front (FLN) within the ruling party, the secretary general, Abdelkrim Benmbarek, is facing his worst days at the helm of the organisation.
According to Al-Arab, the creation of this body ‘may be an attempt by its former leaders to regain the power they once had within the party’.
In the words of the driving force behind the National Coordination Committee, Abdelkader Kaci, the motive is not the exclusive domination of the party or its members, but the restoration of democratic order to save it from injustice, mediocrity and bankruptcy. ‘So far, we have the signatures of many provincial governments that have shown their commitment to the cause we defend,’ he added.
Specifically, the document signed by the governors and activists rejects the current party leadership headed by Secretary General Abdelkrim Benmbarek and urges the Committee to continue the fight against what they claim is ‘appalling management of the party.’
On the contrary, the party's leading figures downplay what they consider to be a new political movement whose sole objective is to secure Benmbarek's dismissal, based on ‘totally false arguments about the functioning of the National Liberation Front.’
Power struggles between the old guard and the new political class in Algeria are quite common, but they are limited exclusively to political power and to the leaders of the Defence, Interior and Intelligence Services. However, in the context of the regional and international crisis the country is going through, this situation has triggered tension within the country's main political group.
These events show that the party is more divided than ever and lacks the homogeneity that, according to local media, it has always enjoyed. Among the initial hypotheses being discussed in the Algerian media is the accusation by the party's old guard that the party's political leadership has ‘strayed’.
The party is currently undergoing modernisation and restructuring following the results of the last elections, in which it received fewer votes than expected. The creation of an internal body whose aim is to ‘save the party’ perfectly reflects the state of the party today.
The exclusion of some activists and the lack of transparency have been the points that have led the National Coordination Committee's reports to label the party as an ‘organisation that violates party rules’.
At the same time, according to these same local media outlets, this message in the form of an internal revolt within the country's most important political party shows signs of a weakening of transparency and democracy in Algerian politics since Abdelmadjid Tebboune came to power, although other media outlets point out that this phenomenon began in 2004 and already existed during the term of the late former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
