After more than a century of rule by France, Algerians fought
through much of the 1950s to achieve independence in 1962. Algeria's primary
political party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), was established in 1954
as part of the struggle for independence and has largely dominated politics
since. The Government of Algeria in 1988 instituted a multi-party system in
response to public unrest, but the surprising first round success of the
Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in the December 1991 balloting led the Algerian
army to intervene and postpone the second round of elections to prevent what
the secular elite feared would be an extremist-led government from assuming
power. The army began a crackdown on the FIS that spurred FIS supporters to
begin attacking government targets. Fighting escalated into an insurgency,
which saw intense violence from 1992-98, resulting in over 100,000 deaths -
many attributed to indiscriminate massacres of villagers by extremists. The
government gained the upper hand by the late-1990s, and FIS's armed wing, the
Islamic Salvation Army, disbanded in January 2000. Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA, with
the backing of the military, won the presidency in 1999 in an election widely
viewed as fraudulent. He was reelected to a second term in 2004 and
overwhelmingly won a third term in 2009, after the government amended the
constitution in 2008 to remove presidential term limits. Longstanding problems
continue to face BOUTEFLIKA, including large-scale unemployment, a shortage of
housing, unreliable electrical and water supplies, government inefficiencies
and corruption, and the continuing activities of extremist militants. The
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in 2006 merged with al-Qa'ida to
form al-Qa'ida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, which has launched an
ongoing series of kidnappings and bombings targeting the Algerian Government
and Western interests. The government in 2011 introduced some political reforms
in response to the Arab Spring, including lifting the 19-year-old state of
emergency restrictions and increasing women's quotas for elected assemblies.
Parliamentary elections in May 2012 and municipal and provincial elections in
November 2012 saw continued dominance by the FLN, with Islamist opposition
parties performing poorly. Political protest activity in the country remained
low in 2012, but small, sometimes violent socioeconomic demonstrations by
disparate groups continued to be a common occurrence. Parliament in 2013 is
expected to revise the constitution.
(Source: The World Factbook 2009.
Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2009)
For
more information about Algeria:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
