Austerity will colour Algeria's election campaigns

Subject

Political and economic outlook.

Significance

A strike by traders and shopkeepers in protest of new taxes in the 2017 budget sparked off riots in early January in the port city of Bejaia, in the Kabyle region to the east of Algiers. The rise in social tensions comes as the Algerian political establishment is gearing up for a parliamentary election likely to be held in April.

Impacts

• Austerity may further stoke popular disaffection with the system as a whole, in which corrupt elites are perceived to operate with impunity.
• The security forces will aim to prevent protests against austerity from escalating into a wider uprising against the regime.
• The election will provide an opportunity for smaller parties to challenge the dominance of the FLN.