Secretary-general of Algeria\'s FLN suffers vote of no confidence

Abdelaziz Belkhadem has lost the key motion by 4 votes The secretary-general of the National Liberation Front [FLN], Abdelaziz Belkhadem, was given a vote of no confidence by members of the Algerian party's central committee on Thursday evening .
The vote was close, with 160 members approving the no confidence motion and 156 rejecting it. An informed source said: "The central committee will continue with its business and the method by which the party will be determined. A new secretary-general will either by appointed by consensus or elected via the ballot box."
The no confidence motion was supervised by a four-member bureau which was formed by consensus between pro- and anti-Belkhadem members. Out of the committee's 330 members, 318 attended the vote, including 12 who voted by proxy. Only seven members failed to vote, either due to absence or abstention.
Thursday saw the launch of the regular session of the FLN's central committee focusing on the growing conflict between Belkhadem and his rivals in the movement for FLN reform [mouvement de redressement et d'authenticité].  
Aside from Belkhadem's fate, the committee's agenda also includes the result of the local and provincial elections, the mid-term Council of the Nation elections and the party's proposed constitutional amendments, in addition to the party's 2013 budget bill.
The reform movement decided to attend the session, held at Riadh Hotel in the Sidi Fredj district of Algiers, after Belkhadem rejected the conditions presented to him by the opposition group's delegates. The conditions included the relocation of the session. The reform movement later said that Belkhadem's decision to defer to the internal poll would be his downfall.
Speaking at the reform movement's preparatory meeting, former minister el-Hadi Khaldi said: "We can only expect one scenario if this goes to a secret poll, and that is Belkhadem's departure." He said more than 220 committee members had "guaranteed" they would vote to dismiss Belkhadem, adding "afterwards, we will form a provisional bureau to run the central committee's meeting and a new secretary-general will be appointed."
The central committee's own preparatory committee [which comprises of pro-Belkhadem governors] convened ahead of the vote to study the voting process to ensure that he would survive the no confidence motion. The members deliberately tweaked regulations to enhance Belkhadem's chances. The now-dismissed party leader had instructed the governors to ensure that central committee members representing their provinces vote to retain him as secretary-general.
A number of FLN members from the Algiers area released a statement on the eve of the vote of no confidence reminding central committee members of their "historic duty" towards the FLN. The statement also demanded that respect is restored to key party figures such as Mohamed Salah Yahiaoui, Ali Benflis, Mouloud Hamrouche, Belaïd Abdeslam, Ali Ben Mohammed and others, and asked central committee members to take to task "everyone who has helped spread the rot" and not make do with removing Belkhadem.
Dismissing the reformists as non-elected, the statement also denounced "the policy of obsequiousness, backing statements that the manner with which the party has been conducting itself."
Ahead of the vote, former Speaker of the People's National Assembly, Ammar Saidani asked central committee members to agree by consensus to appoint Abderrazak Bouhara as the provisional party leader. "Abderrazek Bouhara is a historic and crucial figure. He is a man that all the warring camps within the party may be content with and he can succeed Belkhadem in the position of secretary-general," he said.
He added: "I am with the majority that believes that the party needs to recover its original position and replace itself in the context of its patriotic project and Belkhadem knows full well that the majority wants him out."
The party's honorary chairman, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has remained silent throughout the leadership row, which indicates that the conflict will not end with the central committee's actions. The upcoming presidential elections in 2014 will be decisive, seen as Belkhadem has revealed that he will stand for the chairmanship, should Bouteflika step down.