Posters of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is standing for a third term of office, are plastered all over the cities of Algiers, Oran, Constantine and Bejaia. Algerian state television and radio channels and much of the print media are full of the froth and bubble of electioneering. The government is doing what its peers worldwide enjoy doing in the run up to polling day – throwing money at different groups of electors. Last month the government cancelled the debt owed by farmers to state banks and told university students that individual grants would be increased from Dinars 2700 (Euros 270) every three months to Dinars 4010 – as of 2010. Algeria’s hard currency reserves stood at $138.5bn last December 31st so there is no shortage of spare cash.
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