Le Grand jeu

“Algeria, 2004: Ali Benflis, former prime minister and FLN secretary general, is determined and selfconfident as he sets out on his presidential campaign. Of the 5 opposition candidates, he is the main challenger to the outgoing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Against the backdrop of division within the FLN and the military hierarchy’s hesitation between the two candidates, Ali Benflis and his campaign team try to re-mobilise a population exhausted by social chaos and who has massively abandoned the electoral scene. (Malek Bensmaïl) Does the Algerian system really allow for change?