Embassy Row

Algerian democracy

The Algerian ambassador was beaming, as he gathered reporters around a conference table at the Algerian Embassy where a television set showed news footage of crowds cheering the re-election of their president.

Ambassador Idriss Jazairy said the victory of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, re-elected with nearly 85 percent of the vote, also was a triumph for the Algerian people, who turned out in record numbers in the first multiparty election in a country battling terrorism and a reputation for political corruption.

“You are looking at an Arab country where democracy is working. … To me, the real victory was the voter participation,” he said, praising the participation of women and younger first-time voters.

Mr. Jazairy said Algerian democracy is “maturing,” but that politicians there already had mastered one of the elements of an established Western system. Like Democrats in Florida, they refused to accept the results.

“It’s not in our culture to concede defeat to our opponents,” he said.

Mr. Bouteflika’s closest competitor among the five challengers, former Prime Minister Ali Benflis, won 8 percent of the vote and called the election last week a “parody.” International observers disagreed, and the country’s Constitutional Council yesterday certified the results.

Even a spokesman for the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front yesterday congratulated Mr. Bouteflika for his “crushing majority after free and fair elections.” Rabah Kebir, speaking from Berlin, said his group hopes for “national reconciliation.”

President Bush on Friday sent congratulations to Mr. Bouteflika, an ally in the war on terrorism.

“These elections represent another step on the road toward democracy in Algeria,” the White House said.

Bruce George, an observer from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, called the vote “one of the best conducted elections, not just in Algeria, but in Africa and much of the Arab world.”

Mr. Jazairy noted that his government took special measures to ensure a fair election. All candidates could review voter rolls before the election, monitor polling places and watch the vote count.

The army, which had intervened in previous elections, honored its pledge not to interfere. Soldiers also had to return to their hometowns to vote instead of casting ballots in the barracks, a practice that had brought charges of manipulation in past elections.

“We should pay special tribute to the military,” the ambassador said.

The army canceled the legislative elections in 1992, when preliminary results showed that the Islamic Salvation Front was likely to win. A rebellion that followed has taken about 150,000 lives.

Mr. Jazairy said apathy was widespread in that election, and about 30 percent of the electorate, mainly supporters of the group, participated in the first round of voting.

“It wasn’t just the army that intervened,” he said. “When the people realized what was happening, they took to the streets and said, ’We don’t want this.’”

Mr. Jazairy called the extremists “thugs who appropriated Islam to their own ends” and claimed to “speak for God.”

“They are as opposed to democracy as water is to fire,” he said.

Ashe to Poland

The former mayor of Knoxville, Tenn., is preparing to pack his bags to assume the position of U.S. ambassador to Poland.

President Bush last week selected Republican Victor Ashe to replace Ambassador Christopher Hill, a career diplomat. The Senate must approve the nomination.

Mr. Ashe, who served 16 years as mayor before term limits forced his retirement, established a sister-city relationship between Knoxville and the Polish town of Chelm. He also led two Knoxville delegations to Poland.

• Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail jmorrison@washingtontimes.com.