ALGIERS – The commissions in charge of preparing the national conference of dialogue, scheduled for 6 July in Tourism Academy of Ain Benian (ESHRA), will send official invitations to figures to partake in this initiative so to discuss a “roadmap” to end the political crisis the country is going through.
In this capacity, the president of the National Consultative Council of the Justice and Development Front (FJD), Lakhdar Benkhellaf told APS that the conference of the national dialogue, scheduled for next Saturday, will see the participation of all actors on the political scene (parties, civil society, unions and activists of the popular Hirak),” to develop a document, subject of discussion and validation, which could, once adopted, offer the country a way out of the crisis “.
He also said that this document is “a roadmap for dialogue that can be initiated between the different sections of Algerian society and the Power, in order to find a mechanism to get out of the crisis.”
Mr. Benkhellaf also said that the organizing parties of this meeting had initiated contacts with the various actors “for three weeks”, saying that “those who were contacted are personalities, parties and organizations who have shown their willingness to participate at these meetings “.
The leader of the FJD, one of the organizing parties, said that the official invitations would be sent “this week”..
Among the personalities who confirmed their participation, the lawyer and human rights activist Ali Yahia Abdennour, the former head of government, Ahmed Benbitour, the former foreign minister, Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, the mujahida Djamila Bouhired , and the sister of Larbi Ben M’hidi, said the same official, adding that many others would be contacted, like the former president Liamine Zéroual, the former head of government, Mouloud Hamrouche and many others.
Regarding the political parties, Benkhellaf said that “the Socialist Forces Front (FFS) party has indicated that it could participate in this meeting, while that of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) ‘was reluctant, without closing the door to its eventual participation’.
He also said that “the invited personalities should not be involved with the former regime, nor be partisan of the fifth term, the ruling parties are removed”.
Regarding the roadmap proposed by civil society representatives in mid-June, Benkhellaf said that “it is not very different from the one that will be discussed at the national meeting of the dialogue given that the majority of these unions and associations are members of the Forces of Change which bring together opposition parties, unions, associations and personalities “.
The roadmap that will be examined and adopted is essentially based on “the return to the electoral process as soon as possible but with real guarantees to ensure the regularity of elections,” he continued, stressing that this can not happen without ” the revision of the electoral code and the elaboration of an organic law to supervise and organize this meeting while granting sufficient time for the installation of this body at central and local levels (wilayas and communes) ” .
It is worth recalling that the coordinator of the dialogue initiative, the former minister, Abdelaziz Rahabi had declared on the Algerian Radio that the objective of this dialogue “is to agree on how to get out of the crisis with a unified vision, proposing concrete mechanisms, whose main objective is to ensure the credibility of the body responsible for overseeing the organization and monitoring of the electoral process. ”
The former diplomat said that “the success of this joint initiative between the parties and civil society requires the commitment of all parties to the dialogue. ”
He stressed that “as part of this initiative, which will be the beginning of comprehensive national initiatives, every effort should be made to reach out to all opposition parties in order to achieve a unified vision based on inclusive dialogue, without excluding any party and far from any ideological and partisan considerations “.
