Algeria’s election committee is embroiled in a dispute with the interior ministry over the composition of the country’s legislative election ballot.

By Lyes Aflou for Magharebia in Algiers – 06/04/12

[Lyes Aflou] Algerian political parties say there should be a single ballot with all candidates, rather than separate sheets for each list.

In the run up to Algeria’s May 10th legislative elections, a row over the ballot has developed between the country’s election commission and interior ministry.

The National Legislative Election Monitoring Committee (CNSEL), comprising representatives from around forty political parties, has recommended the use of a single ballot paper – rather than a separate paper for each candidate list – combining all the lists of candidates in the race.

They say it is a way of protecting the ballot from attempts at electoral fraud. This demand was brought up again on Wednesday (April 4th) at a press conference held by the committee’s chairman, Mohamed Seddiki, accompanied by other members of the body.

But the interior ministry disagrees, citing legal constraints. In a statement published the same day, it said that the committee’s request had been rejected “for legal reasons”.

The ministry cited the election law that stipulates ballots are to be organised by random draw with candidates standing for the People’s National Assembly, while the order of local candidates is to be decided by the election monitoring committee.

The interior minister said that no other interpretation can be placed upon those provisions. “The headings and characteristics of the ballot paper are in the administration’s hands alone,” he added.

There will clearly be more than one ballot paper, and it is up to the monitoring committee to establish “the order of the listing for each polling station in each constituency, through a random draw”.

However, a single ballot paper has been used several times in the past, and CNSEL members are convinced that the approach helps to limit opportunities for fraud.

“We invite representatives of the Ministry of the Interior to sit down with us around the table,” said Seddiki, the CNSEL chairman. “That will enable us to defend our suggestions, and the ministry can try to persuade us otherwise. If there is no negotiation, then we shall never reach a solution,” he insisted. He also hinted that the matter could be referred to the president for a final ruling.

The committee has threatened in the past to disband if the authorities did not look into the concerns it had raised. It suspended its activities twice as a form of protest.

“We cannot bear any responsibility for what might happen if the head of state does not take up our case,” thundered the committee’s chairman.

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In addition to the ballot paper, the committee is also seeking clarification of other issues, particularly the administration’s rejection of certain candidate lists that were approved by the courts.

The committee also wants to receive details about electoral lists broken down by commune and by wilaya. Those issues are in addition to the enrolment of voters from the armed services after the official deadline.

Abdemadjid Menasra, chairman of the new Front for Change (FC) party, called on international observers “to consider the concerns of the parties and the committee’s grievances”. He also warned against actions that “could put the transparency of the voting into doubt”.

However, Soufiane Djillali of the Jil Jadid party urged reason. “A single list isn’t an impregnable defence against fraud,” he said at a press briefing.

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