Algerians March Yet Again to Cancel Thursday’s Presidential Election

Algerians marched en masse through the center of the capital Algiers on Wednesday to demand that Thursday’s presidential election be canceled. Many citizens of the North African country believe the election – twice delayed since April – will amount to little more than window dressing and are demanding that a more thorough overhaul of the system of governance be undertaken. Anti-government protests have been a weekly event since February when president Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his candidacy for a fifth term despite having suffered a debilitating stroke in 2013. The protests led to his ouster by the military, at which point the weekly rallies quickly morphed into protests against a deeply entrenched power elite. All five of the candidates running for president on Thursday have been close allies of Bouteflika at one time or another.