ALGIERS: The European Union launched its observer mission in Algeria Monday ahead of May 10 legislative elections, the first time the 27-nation bloc is monitoring polls in the North African country.“It is out of the question that we will interfere” in the election or the campaign, mission chief Jose Ignacio Salafranca, a member of the European parliament, told a news conference.
 
“We’re not here to control, we’re here to observe.”
 
Salafranca is assisted by a group of nine experts who arrived in Algeria on March 30.
 
He said the mission, which has asked to meet with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was financed by the European Union and not Algeria.
 
Overall, 160 people including diplomats and eight members of the European parliament were expected to make up the EU mission, which would look into the legal system, the electoral law, registers, the election campaign and the role of the media.
 
The mission, which aims to help “contribute to the consolidation of democracy” in the country, will publish initial observations after the vote, and a full report within three months.
 
In all, nearly 500 foreign observers will monitor the May 10 vote – 200 from the African Union, 100 from the Arab League, 10 from the United Nations and 20 from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
 
Campaigning for the election – seen as a test of reforms designed to avert the kind of discontent that led to a string of revolutions elsewhere in the region – began Sunday.
 
Oil and gas exporter Algeria is the only country in North Africa whose political system has remained essentially unchanged after the turmoil of last year when long-standing rulers were unseated in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
 
Wary that the May 10 election could be the catalyst which brings upheaval spilling over from its neighbors, authorities have tried to counter the Arab Spring with their own, rebranded version that favors managed transition over revolution. The official slogan of the election, repeated in commercials running on state television, is: “Algeria is our spring.”
 
The country’s rulers have heeded pressure for reform by easing restrictions on political parties and making the election process more transparent.
 
The next parliament, as a result, is likely to be more diverse and have a large contingent of moderate Islamist parties, reflecting a trend across the region following the Arab Spring.
 
But opponents say the authorities’ moves toward reform are window dressing and that they will still not allow any genuine challenge to their hold on power.
 
Workmen in the Algiers have put up dozens of rows of notice boards which stretch along the city’s streets to accommodate election posters.
 
The rows are so long because the authorities this year have allowed about 20 new parties to register, roughly doubling the number of candidates contesting the race compared with the previous parliamentary elections five years ago.
 
The changes were sufficient to entice the Front of Socialist Forces, one of the biggest opposition parties, to take part. It has boycotted all national elections for the past 15 years.
 
Also on the ballot is the Front for Justice and Development, an Islamist group resolutely opposed to the government which until weeks ago was excluded from the political mainstream.
 
Meanwhile the two traditional parties of power are struggling. The bigger one, the National Liberation Front, is in turmoil, with rebels trying to unseat their party leader.
 
Bouteflika, 75, said the country was ready to “launch a new stage in the implementation of democracy.” The U.S. and European countries have applauded the reforms.
 
There is, though, little sign of enthusiasm about the election in Algeria, which this year marks the 50th anniversary of its independence from France.
 
In fact, the authorities seem concerned that apathy could lead to a low turnout. The state phone operator has been sending out text messages urging people to vote.
 
“There have been parliamentary elections before and what have the members of parliament done? Nothing,” said Mohammad, a driver who said he was not planning to vote.
 
Parliament has few powers, many people suspect opposition parties of secretly colluding with the authorities, and the state still exercises tight control over the country’s political space.
 
That control was in evidence Saturday afternoon, on the square outside the central post office in Algiers.
 
An opposition group called the Movement of Independent Youth for Change scheduled a protest calling for an election boycott. Beforehand, the square teemed with uniformed police and plain-clothed officers.
 
As the protesters arrived at the square police surrounded them and frog-marched them into waiting vans before they could even unfurl their banners. In total, about 20 people were detained.
 
The only protesters left in the square were two young women.