Algeria’s largest opposition party has elected a new hardline leader, in a sign it plans to harden its resistance to government policies.
The Movement for Society of Peace elected Abderazak Mokri, who said he hopes to unite the country’s Islamist parties and bring about an Arab Spring in Algeria. Algeria’s Islamist parties suffered a surprising defeat in elections last year – bucking the trend seen elsewhere in the Arab world.
Mokri said after his election on Saturday night that he would work to regain the trust of voters disappointed by the many years MSP supported the government in a ruling collation. The party left that coalition last year. He also said he thought President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who recently suffered a minor stroke, should not seek a fourth term next year.
