Controversy over Civil Society’s Role in Algeria Elections

Students face police forces during a demonstration in Algiers, Tuesday, March 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)
Students face police forces during a demonstration in Algiers, Tuesday, March 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)
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Controversy over Civil Society’s Role in Algeria Elections

Students face police forces during a demonstration in Algiers, Tuesday, March 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)
Students face police forces during a demonstration in Algiers, Tuesday, March 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

One of Algeria’s most prominent opposition parties has expressed reservations over involving civil society organizations in preparations for holding the parliamentary elections scheduled for June.

In a statement Wednesday following a meeting of its executive office, the Islamist Movement of Society for Peace said civil society should not get involved in political representational affairs.

Party leaders told Asharq Al-Awsat that the statement was referring to the newly established Nida Al-Jazaer political bloc, which includes hundreds of professional associations and unions.

The bloc will try to secure a majority to support President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in parliament.

Last month, Tebboune called for dissolving the lower house of parliament and holding early legislative elections.

However, dozens of people took to the streets last Friday to reject the decision.

According to demonstrators, the new parliament will be “an exact copy of (ousted President Abdelaziz) Bouteflika’s parliament.”

The Movement of Society for Peace said the political exploitation of some civil society organizations and attempts to form new parties are harmful to the political process.



Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 11 People in Northern Gaza

 Relatives mourn the death of Atef Al-Atout, a Palestinian man who his family said was shot dead as he fled Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip toward in Gaza City, in front of the al-Maamadani hospital on November 6, 2024. (AFP)
Relatives mourn the death of Atef Al-Atout, a Palestinian man who his family said was shot dead as he fled Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip toward in Gaza City, in front of the al-Maamadani hospital on November 6, 2024. (AFP)
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Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 11 People in Northern Gaza

 Relatives mourn the death of Atef Al-Atout, a Palestinian man who his family said was shot dead as he fled Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip toward in Gaza City, in front of the al-Maamadani hospital on November 6, 2024. (AFP)
Relatives mourn the death of Atef Al-Atout, a Palestinian man who his family said was shot dead as he fled Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip toward in Gaza City, in front of the al-Maamadani hospital on November 6, 2024. (AFP)

Palestinian medical officials say Israeli strikes have killed at least 11 people in the northern Gaza Strip.

A strike hit a house in the northern town of Beit Lahia, killing at least six people from the same family, according to the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service.

The dead include a mother and her three children, as well as the children’s grandmother and uncle, according to a list provided by the service.

In the urban refugee camp of Jabalia, al-Awda Hospital said it received the bodies of five men killed in an Israeli strike.

The military says it only targets fighters and tries to avoid harming civilians. It rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Israel has been waging a major offensive over the past month in northern Gaza, the most heavily destroyed and isolated part of the territory, where it says Hamas has regrouped.