Algeria: Legislative elections - timeline
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Timeline
- April 2007. 33 people are killed and more than 200 are injured in two bomb blasts in Algiers, one of them near the prime minister's office; the Al-Qaida Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb claims responsibility for the attacks.
- February 2007. Seven bombs explode east of Algiers, killing six people.
- January 2007. Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) renames itself the Al-Qaida Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb.
- September 2006. Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, announces a "blessed union" between al-Qaida and the Algerian Islamist insurgent movement, the Salafi Group for Call and Combat (GSPC).
- May 2006. Ahmed Ouyahia resigns as prime minister and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika appoints Abdelaziz Belkhadem to replace him.
- March 2006. The authorities release from prison a first group of Islamic militants after the justice ministry announces plans to pardon 2,100 convicted or suspected Islamic militants.
- September 2005. In a national referendum voters endorse the government’s latest peace plans, including partial amnesties for many Islamic militants.
- January 2005. The government announces that the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the second-largest Islamist rebel faction operating in Algeria, has been virtually wiped out after the security forces kill or arrest its leading members.
- November 2004. It is reported that Amari Saifi, leader of the militant Islamist Salafi Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), has been handed over to the Algerian authorities following the intervention of Libyan leader Col Moamer al Kadhafi.
- April 2004. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is re-elected to a second five-year term in office.
- July 2003. Abassi Madani, the leader of the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), and his deputy Ali Belhadj, are released from custody after serving 12 years in prison or under house arrest.
- January 2003. More than 100 people are killed during a resurgence of Islamist violence.
- May 2002. The National Liberation Front (FLN) wins legislative elections which are marred by violence and low voter turnout.
- April 2002. The National People's Assembly (the bicameral legislature) approves a constitutional reform giving the Berber language, Tamazight, equal status with Arabic.
- October 2001. The government accepts a number of key Berber demands (the so-called " El Kseur manifesto"), including support for a constitutional amendment to include the Berber Tamazight language as a national language.
- May 2001. Rioting and unrest continues in the north-eastern region of Kabylie as Berbers and police fight running street battles, during which at least 42 people are killed.
- April 2001. More than 30 protesters are injured in clashes between Berbers and the Algerian security forces in Beni Douala, following the shooting in custody of a young man by the rural police force.
- January 2000. The Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), the military wing of the banned FIS, announces that it has agreed to disband.
- September 1999. In a national referendum voters overwhelmingly approve President Bouteflika's peace plan, the so-called "civil concord".
- April 1999. Abdelaziz Bouteflika is elected as president.
- September 1998. President Liamine Zeroual announces that he will stand down from office in February 1999, some 21 months before his term is due to expire.
- June 1997. The Democratic National Rally, a newly created party with close links to President Zeroual, is victorious in legislative elections which are marred by allegations of vote-rigging and fraud.
- November 1996. Voters overwhelmingly endorse constitutional changes in a national referendum, effectively banning political parties based on religion.
- July 1996. It is announced that Abou Abderrahamane Amine (also known as Djamel Zitouni), the leader of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), has been killed during an army ambush.
- November 1995. Liamine Zeroual wins presidential elections in the first multi-party presidential election in Algeria since independence.
- March 1995. It is reported that the security forces have launched a series of attacks against the GIA, Algeria’s main hardline Islamist faction.
- January 1994. Liamine Zeroual is appointed chairman of the Higher State Council.
- October 1993. The High Committee of State (HCS) establishes an eight-member "Committee for National Dialogue (CND)" to lay the groundwork for a gradual transition to an elected government.
- February 1993. The government declares that a state of emergency first imposed in February 1992 is to be extended indefinitely, amidst continuing violence involving fundamentalist Islamic groups.
- November 1992. Prime Minister Belaid Abdesselam declares "total war" against fundamentalist Islamic groups, amidst escalating violence.
- October 1992. The government introduces new legislation in response to an upsurge in violence linked to Islamic fundamentalist groups.
- August 1992. A bomb explodes at the Houari Boumedienne airport in Algiers, killing at least nine people and injuring 128 others.
- June 1992. Mohammed Boudiaf, the president of the HCS, is assassinated; Boudiaf is replaced by Ali Kafi.
- March 1992. The FIS is dissolved by the Court of Appeal.
- February 1992. Violent clashes erupt between FIS supporters and the security forces; a state of emergency is declared and the FIS is ordered to disband; all FIS-controlled local and regional councils are dissolved.
- January 1992. President Chadli Bendjedid resigns and a newly created five-member HCS, chaired by Mohammed Boudiaf, assumes presidential powers; the second round of voting in legislative elections is cancelled, effectively preventing the FIS from winning power.
- December 1991. In the first round of voting in legislative elections the FIS unexpectedly wins 188 seats outright and appears likely to secure an absolute majority in the second round in January 1992.
- June 1991. Legislative elections are postponed amidst violent protests.
- April 1991. The government announces the holding of legislative elections in June 1991 and plans to change the electoral system, including restrictions on campaigning in mosques.
- November 1990. Anti-government rallies are held in Constantine and Algiers by the FIS, during which FIS leaders warn the government against postponing Algeria’s first multiparty national parliamentary elections scheduled for early 1991.
- June 1990. The fundamentalist FIS wins 55 per cent of the vote in local elections.
- July 1989. Laws approving the formation of new political parties and outlining new electoral regulations are passed by the National Assembly, effectively dismantling the legal framework which had allowed the FLN to enjoy a virtual monopoly of political life since independence from France in 1962.
- February 1989. In a national referendum voters overwhelmingly approve sweeping constitutional reforms to effectively introduce multiparty politics.
- November 1986. Rioting erupts in Constantine and Sétif after discontent amongst students over government plans to introduce compulsory Islamic studies into the education system and to conduct examinations in Arabic.
- August 1985. Muslim fundamentalists attack a police training barracks at Souma, near Blida (about 50 km south of Algiers), killing one police officer and seizing a quantity of arms and ammunition.
- February 1979. Colonel Bendjedid Chadli, the presidential candidate of the FLN, is unanimously elected as president.
- December 1978. President Boumedienne dies after suffering a rare blood disease; National Assembly speaker Rabah Bitat is appointed as the interim president, pending the holding of fresh elections.
- December 1976. President Boumedienne, the sole FLN candidate, is re-elected as Algeria’s president for a further six-year term.
- November 1976. President Boumedienne’s new constitution is approved in a national referendum.
- June 1976. President Boumedienne introduces a new "socialist"-based "National Charter" which is approved in a national referendum; Islam is recognised as the state religion.
- June 1965. Colonel Houari Boumedienne overthrows President Ben Bella in a bloodless military coup.
- September 1963. Ahmed Ben Bella is elected as Algeria’s first president.
- July 1962. Algeria gains independence from France after Algerians overwhelmingly approve independence in a national referendum.
- March 1962. The French Government and the "provisional government of the Algerian Republic" (GPRA) sign a ceasefire agreement, effectively ending the war of independence.
- May 1961. Negotiations between the French government and the "provisional government of the Algerian Republic" (GPRA) fail to resolve the conflict, although France announces a cessation of offensive military operations in Algeria.
- April 1961. An uprising against French rule breaks out in Algiers, leading to rebel groups announcing that they have taken control of the city.
- March 1961. The French government and Algerian rebel leaders announce their willingness to enter into dialogue over the future status of Algeria.
- September 1958. Ferhat Abbas announces the formation of a "provisional government of the Republic of Algeria" in Cairo (the capital of Egypt), with Abbas as its prime minister.
- October 1955. The Moroccan Istiqlal (nationalist) party announces that the Algerian and Moroccan "resistance movements" have united to form a "liberation army of North Africa" to conduct a joint struggle for the "liberation" of Algeria and Morocco.
- September 1955. The nationalist uprising of 1954 spreads to new areas of north-eastern Algeria.
- November 1954. The FLN launches armed revolts throughout Algeria and issues a statement demanding a sovereign Algerian state.
- April 1954. French North African nationalist parties sign in Cairo, Egypt, to establish a "Liberation Committee".
- February 1952. The Tunisian, Algerian, and Moroccan nationalist parties meet in Paris and agree to co-ordinate their independence activities.
- February 1951. Partial elections to the 120-member Algerian Assembly are held.
- April 1950. The Algerian police discover a cache of weapons thought to belong to an organisation directed by the Mouvement pout le triomphe des libertés démocratiques (MTLD), a Muslim nationalist group.
- January 1948. It is reported that North African nationalist movements convene in Cairo and agree to form a "Liberation Committee for North Africa", led by Abd el-Krim.
- September 1947. The French government adopts the Statute of Algeria, under which Algeria is authorised to hold elections in 1948 to the Algeria Assembly.
- January 1946. The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Abdel Rahman Azzam Pasha, demands that French forces withdraw from North Africa, including Algeria.
- November 1942. US military forces occupy territory in Northern Africa to prevent the Axis Powers from occupying any part of Northern or Western Africa and to deny them the opportunity to launch an attack against the Atlantic coast of the Americas.
- November 1941. The US state department issues a statement saying that France has acquiesced to an express demand by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to remove General Weygand from his post.
- July 1941. General Weygand is appointed as the governor-general of Algeria.
- June 1940. France signs an armistice agreement with Nazi Germany and Nazi Italy.
- November 1937. Albert Sarraut, the French minister without portfolio, presents a report to the French government recommending reforms in the French North African territories, including Algeria.
