They say Karim Tabbou will face another trial starting today.

ends intro

It is like a tale out of the bygone Algeria run by the military and an authoritarian president.

Karim Tabbou was one of those whose persistent protests brought down Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

But those demonstrations persisted after the military took control and called early elections.

Karim Tabbou has been held since last September.

He was found guilty of undermining national unity and sentenced to six months in jail.

That sentence was doubled yesterday and Tabbou now faces new charges of supporting the protest group known as Hirak and of criticizing the army

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The general will be best remembered for telling veteran President Abdelaziz Bouteflika he had to step down 

No details have been given for the cause of the death of one the last veterans of Algerian 1954-1962 war of independence with France.

Ahmed Gaid Salah became de facto leader of Algeria after Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s departure last April.

Pro-democracy protestors rejected the election he called on December 11, saying he was using it to cling to the power and influence held by the military and political elite since 1962.

Three days 0f mourning have been announced for the general who is replaced by General Said Chengriha.

Salah was particularly close to Algeria’s new President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

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The exercise attracted an historic low turnout of 41 percent.

Police clashed with demonstrators calling for voters to stay away from what they called a sham election.

No date has been set for the run-off. It will be contested between Majid Tebboun, who won 36 percent of the vote and Abdelkader Bengira who took 29,5 percent.

Protestors calling themselves the Hirak say the election is a pretext for the corrupt elite and its military backers to cling to power after President Abdelaziz Boutflika was forced to resign in April.

Some of the 24-million registered voters say they spoiled their ballots rather than shun the election.

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Police baton-charged protestors against the poll and made dozens of arrests.

Pro-democracy demonstrators calling themselves the Hirak say the poll is an excuse for the political elite and the military brass to cling to power after they brought down President Abdelaziz Bouteflika last April.

Their call for  a boycott of the election. is expected to result in a low turnout of voters.

Protestors have twice managed to delay the election.

Preliminary results are expected from midnight but the final outcome is unlikely to be known before late tomorrow.

If none of the five candidates manages to poll 50 percent plus one vote, a run off will be held within a few weeks.

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Thousands of protestors were on the streets of Algiers say the five candidate contesting the presidential race are all to close to the regime of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika they brought down last April.

Algerian authorities are inviting tomorrow’s election is the only way of ending the stand-off between pro-democracy protestors and the military.

The demonstrations in Algeria, France, Canada and the United States say the poll is an attempt to secure power in the hands of the corrupt clique who have held it since independence from France 57 years ago.

It remains to be seen whether the protestors known as the Hirak will accept the outcome of the election.

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Analysts are saying the chances of that poll taking place as scheduled on July 4 are very slim indeed.

General Ahmed Gaid Salah, the armed forces chief who urged President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to stay down nearly two months ago, has become the villain of the piece with the demonstrators who take the credit for ousting the ailing president.

They’re demanding the complete removal of what they call the Bouteflika mafia before elections can take place. 

Salah, for his part calls for mutual concessions on both sides of the political divide.

Analysts agree that the gap between the military and the protestors is too wide to enable the elections to take place as planned in just over a month.

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The election currently underway in Malawi perfectly illustrates the generational battle in African politics.

Peter Mutharika, vying for a second and final term as President, has a record of achievement to show voters.

He’s brought down inflation this past five years from 14% to 9%.

He is promising the people of one Africa’s poorest countries that Malawi is going  the way of Singapore or Malaysia.

This is somewhat hyperbolic given that more than half the nearly 19-million Malawians live under the poverty line.

Food shortages dog daily life and the 11% of the population with electricity suffer frequent power outages.

Mutharika’s image has been further dented by his having to return a $200 000 campaign donation from a businessman implicated in a $3-million scam involving the contract for supplying food to the police force.

There are seven faces on the presidential ballot paper competing for the votes of seven million electors.

Mutharika’s main rival is his former hand-picked  vice president Saulos Chilima who broke with him last year when it became clear he was running for a second term.

The incumbent, who is a former law professor, is 78 years old.

His sister-in-law Callista, widow of former President Bingu Wa Mutharika, is among those who have advised him that he has passed his sell-by date.

This is a telling argument with more than half of the electorate younger than 35 years.

Former telecoms executive Chilima is 46.

The third frontrunner is former Lazarus Chakwera who ran second to Mutharika in 2014.

He has revived Hastings Banda’s Malawi Congress  Party  and secured the endorsement of former President Joyce Banda. Chakwera is 64.

Age has been a determining factor in a number of recent African political contests.

In South Africa, Julius Malema and Mmusi Maimane, both 38, made much of the fact they were running against 66-year-old Cyril Ramaphosa.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 74, is going to extraordinary and unconstitutional lengths  to ward off the challenge of Pop-singer-turned MP Bobi Wine, who is 37.

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 76, had his work cut keeping 41-year-old Nelson Chamisa at bay.

Two African presidents have fallen to popular protest this year.

In Sudan, Omar Al Bashir is 75.

Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika is 82. 

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The telecoms billionaire was speaking in Cote d’Ivoire at a meeting of his foundation that publishes an annual index of good governance and rewards democratically elected African leaders who stand down voluntarily.

Mo Ibrahim’s call comes as Saudi Arabia and Egypt offer asylum to Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, who’s facing unprecedented and persistent mass protests to stand down.

With demonstrators camping for a fifth night outside army headquarters in Khartoum and vowing to stay there until Al Bashir goes, 

Britain, Norway and the United States  have called on the government there to deliver a credible political transition plan. 

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There have been demonstrations against his appointment and the government-support newspaper El Moudjahid call on him to step aside.

Opposition MPs boycotted the parliamentary session that made the appointment of Abdelkader Bensalah as interim president

By sticking to the constitutionally dictated position of supporting the Senate leader for the post, the Algerian government has provoked the young demonstrators who’s weeks of protests forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office.

They immediately assembled outside the main post office in Algiers, which has become the focal point of protestors, calling for Bensalah to resign.

He will have a tough time holding on until presidential elections that must take place within 90 days

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