A national reconciliation referendum was held in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

on 29 September 2005. The referendum was held on a Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation which had been drawn up to try to bring closure to the Algerian Civil War. The official results showed an overwhelming vote in favour on a high turnout.

Background

The Algerian Civil War, which had begun in 1991 after the military cancelled the 1991 National Assembly elections to prevent Islamists from winning, had led to at least 150,000 people dying by 2005. Since the late 1990s violence had been declining and the government of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdelaziz Bouteflika (; ; 2 March 1937 – 17 September 2021) was an Algerian politician and diplomat who served as the seventh president of Algeria from 1999 to his resignation in 2019. Before his stint as an Algerian politician, Bouteflika s ...

began drawing up plans for an

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

for both members of the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

and Islamists. The Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation that was produced would offer an amnesty to anyone who had taken part in the civil war unless they had taken part in

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...

s or public bombings. The charter removed any blame to the state for the events of the civil war and prevented any leaders of the Islamist rebels from re-entering politics in Algeria. It also provided for compensation to be given to the families of the dead and those who disappeared during the civil war.

Referendum question

The question voted on in the

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

was: ''Are you for or against the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation project that the government has proposed?''

Campaign

President Bouteflika personally led the campaign in favour of the charter and for several weeks before the referendum he travelled across Algeria to campaign for a yes vote. The government said that there was no alternative to the charter and used the slogan "From concord to national reconciliation. For Algeria". Public enthusiasm for the charter was not much evident during the campaign but there was support as people saw the referendum as a chance to bring the long conflict to a conclusion. Opponents, including some opposition parties, said that the charter would prevent people from obtaining justice as it would not hold those who committed crimes accountable for them. There was a call for a

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

and opponents described it as just giving more legitimacy to the government and president. However no opposition groups were allowed to get their point of view on national television or radio stations during the campaign. On the day of the referendum there was violence in the eastern regions of Algeria and particularly

Kabylie Kabylia or Kabylie (; in Kabyle language, Kabyle: Tamurt n leqbayel; in Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ ⵏ ⵍⴻⵇⴱⴰⵢⴻⵍ; ), meaning "Land of the Tribes" is a mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kaby ...

province where turnout was much lower than in the rest of the country. Turnout varied widely with Tizi Ouzou Province seeing a turnout of only a little over 11%, while in Khenchela official figures showed a 99.95% turnout.

Results

The government described the official results as having given "real backing for the president's project". However critics, such as

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

groups, said that the official turnout figures were completely overstated, with

polling station A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English, British English and Canadian English although a polling place is the building and polling station is the specific ...

s in and around Algiers seeing little evidence of a large turnout.

References

{{Algerian elections

Referendums in Algeria Aftermath of the Algerian Civil War National