20120218
AFP
Upcoming elections may spark real change in Algeria, an opposition leader said Friday as political figures came forward to launch parties after the relaxing of laws in the wake of the Arab Spring.

"It is not too late that (the elections) become a path to democratic change and towards a more transparent institutional framework, more predictable and reassuring," said Ali Laskri, general secretary of the Socialist Forces Front, a longtime dissident party in Algeria.

Laskri spoke at the party's national convention set to debate participation in the May 10 legislative elections, a question facing many of Algeria's political movements, some only just created.

Political figures, including several former ministers, have scrambled to create parties after the regime, dominated by the National Liberation Front, or FLN, freed up political laws in response to the protest movement that has swept the Arab world.

Seventeen new parties have been authorised to hold their first congresses under a new law passed last month following reforms announced by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Ex-Industry Minister Abdelmadjid Menasra announced the creation of a new Islamist party on Friday while former Health Minister Amara Benyounes announced his secularist party would participate in the May poll.

"We are going to contribute to change Algerians yearn for and offer hope to the young," Menasra said at the launch of his party, the Change Front.

The Socialist Forces boycotted the last two legislative elections in 2002 and 2007 and opposition parties have repeatedly denounced fraud by the FLN ever since the introduction of a multi-party system in 1989.

The current parliament is dominated by the FLN, which has played a key role in Algerian politics since it led the way to independence from France in 1962.

Algeria is a major oil and gas producer, a sector that accounts for almost all of its foreign earnings.

Other sectors of the economy are underdeveloped, however, and youth unemployment was running at 21 percent last year, according to the World Bank.