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Theme:
2004 Seeds of Reform in the Arab World
Will They Flourish?
North Africa in Year 2004
In 2004 Algeria held presidential elections in which six candidates ran including
the incumbent president, Abdel Aziz Boutaflika, who won 85% of the votes. Whilst
the Algerian government perceived the elections as being honest and clean, the
Algerian opposition refused the election results and accused the government
of committing widespread fraud in favor of the president.
The year was marked also with a rising activism on the part of political parties.
However, Algerian political parties are still fragile and internally fragmented
due to the heavy restrictions imposed upon them by the government. The government
refused to license several political parties because of their Islamist affiliations.
It also refused to register some civil society associations on security grounds.
A modified more liberated Family Law is still the subject of heated debate and
controversies by both the Islamists who rejected the amendments as too extensive
and major women's organizations that reject the law for falling short of what
is needed to protect women's rights. Freedom of expression is still restricted
due to the continued rule by emergency law. The media is still tightly controlled
and monopolized by the government, especially at election times. Opposition
newspapers and journalist are still subject to many ambiguous laws that carry
severe sanctions. The government also imposed som e new restrictions on the
freedoms of the foreign media. A case in point is the freezing of El- Jazeera's
activities last July.
Throughout the year 2004, Tunisia experienced several modest positive developments
in civil rights. In particular, in 2004 more women have been appointed to important
governmental posts including Sayeda Ben Saleh, who became the general director
of the High Magistrates Institute. However no similar accomplishments were made
on the political front. The October 2004 Tunisian presidential elections reinstalled
of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali for a fourth term. Although Ben Ali's candidacy
was contested by several runners from opposition parties, the results were a
foregone conclusion. Indeed the incumbent president received 95% of the vote
in the 2004 elections— a result that was widely criticized domestically and
internationally for making a mockery of democracy. While official sources put
voter-turnout at 91.5 %, the opposition maintains that the true figure did not
exceed 35%. Another alarming development in the previous year was the passage
of a new anti-terror law in December that greatly threatens the freedom of thought
and expression.
Morocco is one of the few Arab states that have made considerable progress along
the path of democracy and civil rights. However, the year 2004 witnessed the
persistence of the law of terrorism imposed since May 2003, has lead to a number
of detentions for a long period of time without any judicial supervision. The
Moroccan is not independent and still plagued with corruption and bribery.
Political parties remain weak and the Moroccan authority still intervenes in
their internal affairs. Furthermore, the association of civil society have demonstrated
vigorous activity in defense of the rights of women who demanded further concessions
amendment to the Family Code that granting the Moroccan women a lot of rights.
However, freedom of the press is still to some extent restricted due to the
government's dominance over all means of mass media that reflect and market
for the official point of view.
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