Muslim Brotherhood still inspires fear in Algeria

HASM, The Shura Council of the Algerian Muslim Brotherhood, held meeting, Saturday 2 March 2019; to vote on running the next presidential election.

The meeting resulted 145 votes agree to withdraw from the race against 97 votes support Abdel Razik Makri.

According to some Algerian newspapers, Makri want to run the presidential race, but the majority of those who attended the Shura Council, preferred standing with the people who went out in successive demonstrations, rejecting the fifth custody of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Observers say that the mass demonstrations in Algeria were a pressure factor on the Brotherhood.

They pointed out that the declared aim of the demonstrations was to oppose the candidacy of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika for a new presidential term, the fifth since 1999, but these demonstrations were likely to deliver a message to HAMS that the political street can also organize demonstration if Makri nominated.

Algerians can be repeated the demonstration against those figures belonging to Algerian Islamist movements, which are unpopular at the grassroots level.

The Algerian press dealt with the influence of the so-called “surplus power” shown by the Algerian street, publicly against Bouteflika's choice, and implicitly against the Islamist political trend, which afraid of riding a political wave and a policy of imposing a fait accompli.