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ALGERIA'S NEW CONSTITUTION AND THE ELECTION OF BEN BELLA - “A little more than a year after the proclamation of independence, the people of Algeria voted twice within a single week, once in favor of a Constitution adopted by the Netional Assembly, the second time in favor of Ben Bella as president of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria. The participation was. massive, over eighty per cent.of the adult population turning out to vote on the Constitution and an
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PEN even higher percentage for the presidential election. Out of 6,322,532 registered voters, 5,547,905 voted for the single candidate. Apstentions were 1 sted as 753,289 and 21,338 ballots were declared null and void,
The highest percentage of abstentions occurred in Kabylie where certain opponents of the Ben Bella government openly called for such action. In some areas abstentions constituted a majority. The problem indicated by this reaction is onc for the Algerian government to consider,
As a whole, “the results were a demonstration of the ereat ” authority enjoyed by the Ben Bolla government among the masses.
On the eve of the election the revolutionary orientation of the government was strengthened by the break with the pro-bovrgeois wing represénted by: Ferhat Abbas. This break, bringing to. a. complete jond the so*called Tlemcen agreement made last year during the crisis | that followed the proclamation of independence, marked an important step forward for the revolution.
The changes in Algeria also find their expression in the com~ position of the leadership in the government. The old leaders of the period before the revolution have gone. With the prominent | exception of Ben Bella and a fow othors, the princinal leaders |} a@uring the war for independence have also left the stage. Coming to the forefront now are young men, quite radical in views, who | played important roles during the freedom struggle but usually .in the second ranks of the leadership. ae
The Constitution ratified by the referenduni ténds to strengthen the bonapartist features of rule in Algeria today, all the. more so since the head of government represents a single party. Voting on the Constitution, however, cid not take place on the basis of an; analysis of its text but on the simpler basis. of approval. or disapproval of Ben Bella and his revolutionary orientation. Opponents of Ben Bella, whether from the right or the "left," essisted in this by similarly reducing the issue to a vote of confidence. - .In-an interview printed-in the September 17 issue of the Paris daily lie Monde, Ben Bella made some declarations of interost follow-. ing his élection as president. They indicate the policies | that can be expected in the coming period:
"T will not tolerate some people buying villas while others © are starving. TI. have already made them disgorge and;it is not yet finished. In Algeria a possessing bourgeoisie like bhat in most African countries will not be created. I am in this post to prevent that."
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"The first measures which I will | take contern a fundamental juestion, agrarian reform. A bill will be submitted to the
Assembly. It will concern this timc all lands without exception, Holdings will be limited to so many acres -~ the figure has not yet been set. Of course the reform will be spread out over many years. In addition we will’ adopt a bill relating to the civil service which will enable us to ‘mobilize the Algerian youth beginning in the fall for reforestation and against erosion of the soil. ,
. "Finally our action against speculation will be stepped up on the political level and a first congress of self-management commit- - tees -- a kind of ‘peasant congress' -~ will be held in October... It will enable the best elements to come forward and constitute dynamic elements for the party. As for the party gathering, it will take place in 1964. Such a congress cannot be improvised... "
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"No, there is no place in Algeria for an opposition. A person can disagree with our view and every Algerian has the right to ‘eriticize me. But there is a framework set for this -- it is the party. There can be tendencies inside the party. When a tendency becomes a majority, it will orientate the FLU. But a plurality of parties is not possible. Some say that vou can't express yourself freely in the party. Let's be serious. Militants who have fought for seven years cannot suddenly be changed into sheep like those of Panurge, following a big chief, a kind of big sorcerer. That's absurd," © 7
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"We cannot apply democracy in the classical and liberal meaning ‘of the term.. We live in a world where problems have become important and are posed in conditions cifferent from those when these ‘ @emocratic principles were established. An outstanding instance is -the executive power which has acquired an importance and means which were denied it in the past. Every day it must resolve . ,economic and social problems of exceptional gravity. This is... especially true for underdevelopes countries and notably for Algeria. .What our people want is concrete and rapid achievements. , They don't care if we gauge our actions according to the classical ' schemas of democracy. But understanc well, I am not making any ' apology for dictatorship. Do you know any place outside Algeria ' where a revolution has so transformed a country without recourse to force?: How many political prisoners are there? Boudiaf, three others in the Sahara, and the few 'guerrillas'’ of Dra-el-Mizan, And they are detained because they sought to resort to arms. I will never arrest anyone under pretext that he said I'm wrong -- I meet such people every day. . But if someone is organizing assassination, that's something else again," an
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‘Following Ben Bella's election, the government at once nationalized fhe three French daily papers still printed in Algeria and some big hotels and restaurants. The latter were
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either French-owned or had been sold at the end of the war to. wealthy Algerians,
The seizure of the newspapers touched off bitter protest from. - the French government and from the French capitalist press, of course in the name of "freedom of the press."
7 During the French occupation, the daily papers represented -various French interests in Algeria, Such competition as existed was the competition of reactionary groups. None of them raised the question of "freedom of the press" for Algerians or even for liberal views. (During the Algerian war, the "socialist" Lacoste banned a weekly liberal paper.)
Towards the end of the war, as the defeat of French imperialism became evident, the ultra-reactionary Echo d'Alger was banned by the French authorities because of its support for the terroristic OAS. The three remaining papers belonged to French capitalist politicians operating in Algeria. (Schiaffino, a shipowner of Algiers; Morel, a senator from Constantine; and Laffont, a former member of parliament from Oran.)
After the