Political Changes in Algeria: An Emerging Electoral Geography

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Periodical article

Title:	Political Changes in Algeria: An Emerging Electoral Geography
Author:	Sutton, Keith
Year:	1992
Periodical:	Maghreb Review
Volume:	17
Issue:	1-2
Pages:	3-27
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Algeria
Subjects:	elections 1990 multiparty systems Politics and Government
Abstract:	Algeria joined the ranks of multiparty Third World States with a political earthquake. The municipal and provincial elections of 12 June 1990 proved to be a turning point in the country's history in that the ruling single party since independence in 1962, the FLN, lost power over much of the country to the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). This represented the first defeat inflicted by a fundamentalist Islamic party on a ruling party in the Arab world in free multiparty elections. This paper examines the recent rise of multipartyism in Algeria in the context of Algeria's late 1980s socioeconomic problems. The emerging electoral geography of the country is then analysed prior to an assessment of the implications and potential of the rise of an elected Islamic party. A postscript briefly considers the strikes and related violence that took place before the June 1991 elections. Bibliogr., sum.