Algeria's presidential election no one wants
After hounding longtime dictator Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office, protesters are now campaigning to stop the flawed process to replace him.
What do Algeria's five state-approved presidential candidates want most of all? For Sunday to arrive as soon as possible and the electoral campaign that only began Nov. 17 to finally be over.
The bizarre race is the inevitable outcome of an even stranger political climate in which the powers that be are determined to replace deposed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika next Thursday despite widespread public opposition. Heavy police protection around the candidates and steep penalties — 18 months in prison for anyone accused of disrupting the electoral process — have failed to dissuade protesters from jeering at the candidates in almost every town in which they've campaigned.
