ALGIERS : Islamic Election Test
Algerians go to the polls today in the country’s first multi-party elections since it gained independence from France in 1962.
Leaders from all over the Middle East will be watching the results closely as candidates from more than 20 newly legalized parties contest seats on 1,541 local councils. The reason: Algeria has the Arab world’s only legalized Islamic party, which is expected to mount the most serious challenge to the ruling National Liberation Front. The widely supported Front of Socialist Forces is boycotting the poll, arguing there was not enough time to prepare.
Algeria’s first national, multi-party elections are scheduled for 1992.
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