This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 002037 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2015 
TAGS: PGOV PTER KDEM AG
SUBJECT: ALGERIANS OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVE NATIONAL 
REFERENDUM ON PRESIDENT BOUTEFLIKA'S PROPOSAL FOR NATIONAL 
 
RECONCILIATION 
 
REF: A. ALGIERS 1973 
     ¶B. ALGIERS 1810 
     ¶C. ALGIERS 1702 
     ¶D. ALGIERS 1661 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman, 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
¶1.  (C) According to the Ministry of Interior, about 97 
percent of Algerians who voted September 29 approved 
President Bouteflika's proposal for national reconciliation. 
Of eligible voters, nearly 80 percent officially went to the 
polls nationwide.  While officials and citizens alike took 
for granted the measure would pass, many Algerians were 
cynical about the results, complaining in particular that the 
Government's official participation figures were too high to 
be credible, especially in Algiers where abstention is 
traditionally high and anecdotal evidence suggests voting was 
not heavy.  The two major questions ahead:  1) What will be 
the content of the implementing legislation?  2) Will 
terrorists, as intended, lay down their arms?  The suspected 
manipulation of the election figures, if true, will not have 
much practical affect on the course of events. However, it 
will tarnish the moral and political legitimacy of the 
outcome, which in any case would almost certainly have 
produced a substantial pro-charter majority.  And it 
underscores that Algeria still has a ways to go before its 
democracy rhetoric is translated fully into reality.  (End 
Summary.) 
 
VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVE BOUTEFLIKA'S PROPOSAL 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶2.  (U) With a "yes" vote of 97.38 percent, Algeria's voters 
September 29 approved President Bouteflika's proposal for 
national reconciliation.  The Ministry of Interior, 
responsible for counting the votes, said voter turnout and 
support for the proposal were highest in the seven wilaya 
(provinces) most affected by terrorism in the 1990s: 
Laghouat, Khenchela, Batna, Tebessa, Tiaret, Tlemcen, and 
Djelfa.  In these seven areas, voter participation reportedly 
exceeded 89 percent, and the measure passed with at least 97 
percent of the vote.  Overall, 14,054,164 Algerians voted for 
the referendum, with 381,127 voting against it.  The national 
participation rate was 79.76 percent.  In Algiers, the 
capital and largest urban area, the measure passed with 94.73 
percent of the vote.  Participation in Algiers was recorded 
at 71.87 percent.  Asked at a press conference how these high 
turnout rates squared with the observed lack of lines and 
crowds at polling stations, Interior Minister Zerhouni said 
that the press had missed a lot of voters, who turned out in 
especially heavy numbers late in the day. 
 
VOTE BOYCOTTED IN BERBER AREAS 
------------------------------ 
 
¶3.  (U) Although the proposal passed overwhelmingly in every 
single wilaya, in the Berber-dominated wilayas of Bejaia and 
Tizi-Ouzou the poll was largely boycotted.  According to 
official figures, the rate of voter participation in 
Tizi-Ouzou was a mere 11.51 percent, according to the 
official GOA count.  In Bejaia, the officially announced rate 
was 11.53 percent.  In Bejaia, 94.36 percent of those who 
voted supported the national reconciliation proposal.  In 
Tizi-Ouzou, 95.94 percent of voters supported the measure. 
 
REACTION TO THE VOTE MIXED 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) PM Ouyahia publicly welcomed the vote, noting the 
Charter would provide a "roadmap" for the government's 
handling of problems arising from the period of terrorism. 
The presidential coalition parties -- the FLN, RND, and 
moderate Islamic MSP party -- also issued predictably 
laudatory declarations.  Parties and groups that opposed the 
Charter publicly accused the government of perpetrating 
fraud.  Numerous Algerian contacts as well as long-time 
African and Maghrebian diplomatic observers voiced private 
skepticism about the tabulation of high voter participation, 
especially in Algiers, know for its traditionally high 
abstention rates.  Arouch Berber movement leader Abrika 
publicly expressed astonishment over the claimed voting rate 
in Algiers.  Meanwhile, reaction from terrorists was divided, 
suggesting that the charter may indeed prompt defections. 
The GSPC issued a communiqu rejecting the referendum results 
and vowing to continue terrorist actions until Algeria became 
an Islamic state.  On the other hand, Hassan Hattab, a 
founding member of the GSPC, was reported as announcing his 
plans to surrender to GOA authorities.  The press also 
reported that 20 other terrorists said they would lay down 
their arms, and Interior Minister Zerhouni said October 2 
that a regional emir (terrorist leader) had surrendered 
following the September 29 referendum. 
 
NEXT STEPS 
---------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The Ministry of Interior announced that the 
Government without delay would begin working on the 
implementing legislation, the details of which remain "top 
secret."  Presidential Diplomatic Advisor Rahal told 
 
SIPDIS 
Ambassador Oct. 2 that a Council of Ministers meeting this 
week would establish a working committee to determine what 
legislative steps would be required.  The Arabic-language El 
Yaom predicted that a cabinet shuffle would soon be in the 
offing, with FLN Party Leader and Minister of State Belkhadem 
likely to replace Ouyahia as Prime Minister.  Embassy sources 
also predict that President Bouteflika may next year propose 
amending the constitution to enable him to seek a third 
consecutive presidential term.  Our contacts expect 
Bouteflika to argue that he is best positioned to oversee the 
national reconciliation process, which would extend beyond 
his current term. 
 
COMMENT:  TOO MANY VOTES 
------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (C) While we do not doubt that the measure passed 
overwhelmingly, we concur with members of the opposition that 
it is difficult to reconcile claimed voter participation 
rates, especially in large urban areas like Algiers, with the 
absence of crowds, lines, or other visible indications of 
high voter turnout at polling stations.  Embassy employees 
who voted maintained that voter turnout could not have 
reached anywhere close to 72 percent in Algiers.  One 
employee who voted at the end of the day said very few names 
had been marked off from the official list.  Another employee 
who voted late afternoon said one of the poll workers, a 
personal friend, told him that only 70 out of 600 registered 
voters had reported to that polling place.  Two respected 
journalists who spoke with the Embassy on condition of 
anonymity also complained that the officially reported 
turnout rates were too high, especially in Algiers. 
 
¶7.  (C)  The suspected manipulation of official voting 
figures, if true, will probably have very little practical 
impact on the course of events.  It will, however, undercut 
the moral and political legitimacy of the outcome, which in 
any case would have been a sizable pro-charter referendum 
majority, given terrorism fatigue and the genuine longing of 
most Algerians for peace and reconciliation and their 
readiness to follow Bouteflika's lead.  Such manipulation 
also underscores that Algeria has a long road ahead to real 
democracy. 
ERDMAN