Louisa Hanoune targets youth with economic platform

2009-04-01

Workers' Party leader Louisa Hanoune is campaigning for president in Algeria on a programme of aggressive economic and political reform.

By Achira Mammeri and Said Jameh for Magharebia in Algiers – 01/04/09

[Getty Images] Algeria's Louisa Hanoune advocates a divorce from many policies symbolic of the Bouteflika administration.

For many Algerians, Louisa Hanoune – the first woman to run for president in Algeria – is synonymous with the Workers' Party she leads.

Described by some as the "iron lady", Hanoune is a dedicated champion of reform and a tireless campaigner. At the age of 55, she has decided to run a second time for president, after winning just 1% of the vote in 2004.

According to Hanoune, the election is the "ideal moment to make a break with the policies of the past".

"It is time for people to have their voices heard," she said at a recent campaign stop, calling on voters to "put an end to the chicanery and ideology of the single party which has forbidden freedom of speech".

In her speeches, Hanoune opposes the policy of privatisation pursued by the current government, blaming it for the loss of "thousands of jobs".

In a platform dominated by economic issues, Hanoune advocates protections for domestic manufacturers in the form of taxes to discourage imports. She also supports the nationalisation of the oil and gas industries, debt forgiveness, a crackdown on corruption, free hospital care, and a rise in the monthly minimum wage to 25,000 dinars.

Hanoune's message, with its many promises of economic reform, has yet to win over critics in the media.

Kamel Zait, editor-in-chief of El Khabar hebdo, told Magharebia that her chances to win the election are dismal, due to her "Trotskyite discourse that doesn't attract sympathisers... this ideological current does not a have a wide popular base".

The candidate has proposed numerous other reforms. If elected, Hanoune promises to amend the constitution to name Tamazight the second official language of Algeria. She also aims to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.

Hanoune believes the last legislative elections were illegitimate and has vowed to dissolve the National People's Assembly and create a democratic constituent assembly which will receive its mandate directly from the public. She will also give the public the right to dismiss the president.

Also slated for change is the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. The Workers’ Party leader claims it contains "inadequacies", particularly in dealing with cases of missing persons.

Another priority will be negotiations to end the Western Sahara crisis, which Hanoune says is "tearing the Maghreb apart".

The socialist leader, long viewed as a champion of the opposition, has fallen under scrutiny in recent months for inching closer to the political mainstream. Some publications have gone so far as to accuse her of duplicity.

Zait told Magharebia that Hanoune has abandoned the ranks of the opposition in recent years, "praising President Bouteflika on more than one occasion and restricting... criticism to one or two ministers."

Hanoune fired back against her critics, filing a complaint against El Khabar hebdo and rejecting allegations of political opportunism.

Her supporters remain undeterred. "I'll be voting for Louisa Hanoune," said 54-year-old Salah. "I've got no hang-ups about voting for a woman; Hanoune's views are absolutely clear."

"We've been governed by men for nearly 50 years, and it's been a disaster," he concluded.

Assia agreed: "It would be wonderful if Hanoune was elected on April 9th. Algeria needs a complete break with the past. We want change, and it can only come from her."