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{{Politics of Algeria}}
{{Politics of Algeria}}


'''Elections for a new Assembly''' were held in French colonial [[Algeria]] on 4 and 11 April 1948. The new 120-seat Assembly was to be elected by two colleges, each of which would vote for 60 seats; one college represented around 1,500,000 [[Pied-Noir|Europeans]] and [[History of the Jews in Algeria|Algerian Jews]], plus a few thousands "[[évolué]]s" Muslims, and the second of around 8,000,000 "[[Indigénat|indigenous]]" Muslims. Following the victory of the [[Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties]] (MTLD) in the [[Algerian municipal election, 1947|1947 local elections]], the Assembly elections were manipulated by the authorities to ensure a favourable result, to the extent that the phrase "élection algérienne" became synonymous with rigged elections.<ref>[http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-339.html Algeria: Polarization and Politicization] Country-Data.com</ref>
Elections for a new Assembly were held in French colonial [[Algeria]] on 4 and 11 April 1948. The new 120-seat Assembly was to be elected by two colleges, each of which would vote for 60 seats; one college represented around 1,500,000 [[Pied-Noir|Europeans]] and [[History of the Jews in Algeria|Algerian Jews]], plus a few thousand "[[évolué]]" Muslims, and the second of around 8,000,000 "[[Indigénat|indigenous]]" Muslims. The Assembly elections were manipulated by the authorities to ensure a favourable result.<ref name=FT>Frank Tachau (1994) ''Political parties of the Middle East and North Africa'', Greenwood Press, p10</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kahler |first=Miles |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/33697 |title=Decolonization in Britain and France: The Domestic Consequences of International Relations |date=1984 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-5558-2 |pages=177–178}}</ref> Following the victory of the [[Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties]] (MTLD) in the [[1947 Algerian municipal elections|1947 local elections]], and with the MTLD and fellow nationalist [[Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto|UDMA]] set to win a majority in the Second College in the second round of voting, the authorities openly rigged the results in more than two-thirds of seats to ensure the victory of pro-government independents.


The rigging was so brazen that the phrase "élection algérienne" became synonymous with rigged elections.<ref>[http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-339.html Algeria: Polarization and Politicization] Country Data</ref>
==Naegelen's elections==
⚫
[[Marcel-Edmond Naegelen]] (1892-1978), a leading member of the [[French Section of the Workers' International|French Socialist Party (SFIO)]] and hitherto Education Minister in the French government, had been appointed by the government as general governor of Algeria on 11 February 1948. Naegelen was the son of an Alsatian who had chosen to move to France after Germany's annexation of Alsace in 1870, and he was strongly against the Alsatian autonomists ("separatists"), he developed the same hostility towards the Algerian "separatists".


==Conduct==
⚫
He organised with the administration the rigging of these elections and the sabotage of the new (1947) status of Algeria, strongly opposed by the allies of the SFIO in the French government coalition, who threatened to withdraw their support. Among them was the leader of the "French Algeria" lobby, the deputy of [[Constantine (département)|Constantine]]<ref>although he never actually lived in Algeria</ref> [[René Mayer]].
⚫
[[Marcel-Edmond Naegelen]], a leading member of the [[French Section of the Workers' International]] (SFIO) and Minister of Education in the French government, had been appointed by the government as Governor-General of Algeria on 11 February 1948. Naegelen was the son of an Alsatian who had chosen to move to France after Germany's annexation of Alsace in 1870, and he was strongly against the Alsatian autonomists ("separatists"), and developed the same hostility towards the Algerian "separatists".


⚫
Together with the French authorities, he organised the rigging of the elections and the sabotage of the new (1947) status of Algeria, strongly opposed by the allies of the SFIO in the French government coalition, who threatened to withdraw their support. Among them was the leader of the "French Algeria" lobby, the deputy of [[Constantine (département)|Constantine]] [[René Mayer]].
⚫
Candidates were arrested before the elections, ballot boxes were stuffed by the colonial administration and the voting in the villages (''douars'') took place without polling booths under the surveillance of the army. The Algerian nationalists triumphed at the first round of these elections, then their results dropped dramatically at the second, as a result of the rigging.<ref name="mandouze">« Membre éminent de la SFIO, Naegelen n'a été choisi que pour couvrir le sabotage pratique dudit statut. » in: [[André Mandouze]], ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=9HsOAQAAMAAJ Mémoires d'outre-siècle - D'une résistance à l'autre]'', Ed. Viviane Hamy, 1998, ISBN 9782878581034 pp.183-184</ref><ref name="droz">Bernard Droz, Evelyne Lever, ''Histoire de la guerre d'Algérie'', Paris, Seuil-Histoire, 1982, page 33-36</ref><ref>Guy Pervillé, "[http://guy.perville.free.fr/spip/article.php3?id_article=108 Marcel-Edmond Naegelen (1892-1978)]", in: ''Parcours, l’Algérie, les hommes et l’histoire, recherches pour un dictionnaire biographique'', nr. 12, May 1990, pp. 77-81.</ref>

⚫
Candidates were arrested before the elections, ballot boxes were stuffed by the colonial administration and the voting in the villages (''douars'') took place without polling booths under the surveillance of the army. Algerian nationalists triumphed in the first round of the elections, but performed significantly worse in the second as a result of the rigging.<ref name="mandouze">[[André Mandouze]] (1998) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9HsOAQAAMAAJ Mémoires d'outre-siècle - D'une résistance à l'autre]'', pp183–184 {{ISBN|978-2-87858-103-4}}</ref><ref name="droz">Bernard Droz & Evelyne Lever (1982) ''Histoire de la guerre d'Algérie'', Seuil-Histoire, pp33–36</ref><ref>[http://guy.perville.free.fr/spip/article.php3?id_article=108 Marcel-Edmond Naegelen (1892-1978)] Guy Pervillé</ref>


==Results==
==Results==
As a result, of the 60 "indigenous" seats, the MTLD won only nine, including [[Messali Hadj]], Larbi Demaghlatrous (future ambassador of independent Algeria in Jakarta and Belgrade), Chawki Mostefaï ([[:fr:Chawki Mostefaï|fr]]) and Djilani Embarek (member of the Algerian Constituent Assembly in 1962), the nationalist [[Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto]] eight, including [[Ferhat Abbas]], whilst 43 went to independents ("administrative" deputies), often labeled as ''[[béni-oui-oui]]''. Among the 60 "European" seats, there were four socialists, one [[Algerian Communist Party|communist]], and 55 right-wingers.
As a result of the rigging, of the 60 Second College seats, the MTLD won only nine, including [[Messali Hadj]], [[Larbi Demaghlatrous]] (future ambassador of independent Algeria to Indonesia and Yugoslavia), [[Chawki Mostefaï]] and [[Djilani Embarek]], whilst the UDMA won eight, including [[Ferhat Abbas]], whilst 43 went to independents, often labelled as ''[[béni-oui-oui]]''. Among the 60 First College seats, there were four socialists, one [[Algerian Communist Party|communist]] and 55 right-wingers.


{{Election results
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:right
|firstround=First College|secondround=Second College
!rowspan=2|Party
⚫
|party1=[[Algerian Union]]–[[Rally of the French People]]||seats1=40|seats1_2=0|totseats1=40
!colspan=3|First college
⚫
|party2=[[Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties]]|seats2=0|votes2_2=|seats2_2=9|totseats2=9
!colspan=3|Second college
⚫
|party3=[[Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto]]|seats3=0|votes3_2=|seats3_2=8|totseats3=8
!rowspan=2|Total<br>seats
⚫
|party4=[[French Section of the Workers' International]]|seats4=4|votes4_2=|seats4_2=0|totseats4=4
|-
⚫
|party5=[[Algerian Communist Party]]|seats5=1|votes5_2=|seats5_2=0|totseats5=1
!Votes
⚫
|party6=[[Radical Party (France)|Radical Party]]|seats6=2|votes6_2=|seats6_2=0|totseats6=2
!%
|party7=Independent [[Radical Party (France)|Radicals]]|seats7=4|votes7_2=|seats7_2=0|totseats7=4
!Seats
|party8=Independent Federalists|seats8=0|votes8_2=|seats8_2=1|totseats8=1
!Votes
|party9=Independent [[French Section of the Workers' International|Socialists]]|seats9=0|votes9_2=|seats9_2=1|totseats9=1
!%
|party10=Independents|seats10=9|votes10_2=|seats10_2=41|totseats10=50
!Seats
⚫
|source=[https://web.archive.org/web/20111003085814/http://www.alger-roi.net/Alger/documents_algeriens/politique/pages/23_situation_politique.htm Documents algériens. Série politique]
|-
⚫
}}
⚫
|align=left|Union algérienne and [[Rally of the French People]]|| || ||40|| || ||0||40
|-
⚫
|align=left|[[Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties]]|| || ||0|| || ||9||9
|-
⚫
|align=left|[[Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto]]|| || ||0|| || ||8||8
|-
⚫
|align=left|[[French Section of the Workers' International]]|| || ||4|| || ||0||4
|-
⚫
|align=left|[[Algerian Communist Party]]|| || ||1|| || ||0||1
|-
⚫
|align=left|[[Radical Party (France)|Radical Party]]|| || ||2|| || ||0||2
|-
|align=left|[[Radical Party (France)|Independent radicals]]|| || ||4|| || ||0||4
|-
|align=left|Independents|| || ||9|| || ||41||50
|-
|align=left|Independent Federalist|| || || 0|| || ||1||1
|-
|align=left|Independent Socialist|| || || 0|| || ||1||1
|-
|align=left|'''Total'''|| || ||'''60'''|| || ||'''60'''||'''120'''
|-
⚫
|align=left colspan=8| Source: [http://www.alger-roi.net/Alger/documents_algeriens/politique/pages/23_situation_politique.htm Documents algériens. Série politique]
⚫
|}


==Consequences==
==Aftermath==
After the elections, Ferhat Abbas has been reported to have told [[Alphonse Juin|Maréchal Juin]] «Il n'y a plus d'autre solution que les mitraillettes.» ("There is no other solution left than the submachine guns").<ref name="droz"/>
After the elections, Ferhat Abbas has been reported to have told [[Alphonse Juin|Maréchal Juin]] «Il n'y a plus d'autre solution que les mitraillettes.» ("There is no other solution left than the submachine guns").<ref name="droz"/>


Line 57: Line 36:
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


==Further resources==
==External links==
===Legislation===
*[http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/common/jo_pdf.jsp?numJO=0&dateJO=19480305&numTexte=&pageDebut=02297&pageFin= Decree for the organization of the elections], [[Journal officiel]], 5 March 1948
*[http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/common/jo_pdf.jsp?numJO=0&dateJO=19480305&numTexte=&pageDebut=02297&pageFin= Decree for the organization of the elections], [[Journal officiel]], 5 March 1948

===Filmed French propaganda===
*[http://www.ina.fr/histoire-et-conflits/epoques/video/AFE85001948/les-elections-a-l-assemblee-algerienne.fr.html Les élections à l'assemblée algérienne], ''Les Actualités françaises'', 8 April 1948 (42s)
*[http://www.ina.fr/histoire-et-conflits/epoques/video/AFE85001948/les-elections-a-l-assemblee-algerienne.fr.html Les élections à l'assemblée algérienne], ''Les Actualités françaises'', 8 April 1948 (42s)
*[http://www.ina.fr/video/AFE85001973/l-ouverture-de-l-assemblee-algerienne.fr.html Opening of the Algerian Assembly I] (broadcasted), ''Les Actualités françaises'', 1948 (01min07s)
*[http://www.ina.fr/video/AFE85001973/l-ouverture-de-l-assemblee-algerienne.fr.html Opening of the Algerian Assembly I] (broadcast), ''Les Actualités françaises'', 1948 (01min07s)
*[http://www.ina.fr/video/AFE02000314/assemblee-algerienne.fr.html Opening of the Algerian Assembly I] (never broadcasted, sound cut), ''Les Actualités françaises'', 1948 (59s)
*[http://www.ina.fr/video/AFE02000314/assemblee-algerienne.fr.html Opening of the Algerian Assembly I]{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (never broadcast, sound cut), ''Les Actualités françaises'', 1948 (59s)
*[http://www.ina.fr/video/AFE02000254/ouverture-de-l-assemblee-algerienne.fr.html Opening of the Algerian Assembly II] (never broadcasted, sound cut), ''Les Actualités françaises'', 1948 (03min39s)
*[http://www.ina.fr/video/AFE02000254/ouverture-de-l-assemblee-algerienne.fr.html Opening of the Algerian Assembly II]{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (never broadcast, sound cut), ''Les Actualités françaises'', 1948 (03min39s)


{{Algerian elections}}
{{Algerian elections}}


[[Category:Elections in Algeria]]
[[Category:Parliamentary elections in French Algeria]]
[[Category:1948 elections in Africa]]
[[Category:1948 elections in Africa|Algeria]]
[[Category:1948 in Algeria]]
[[Category:1948 in Algeria|Assembly]]
[[Category:Electoral fraud in Algeria]]
[[Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results]]

Latest revision as of 01:05, 19 February 2024

Politics of Algeria

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Elections for a new Assembly were held in French colonial Algeria on 4 and 11 April 1948. The new 120-seat Assembly was to be elected by two colleges, each of which would vote for 60 seats; one college represented around 1,500,000 Europeans and Algerian Jews, plus a few thousand "évolué" Muslims, and the second of around 8,000,000 "indigenous" Muslims. The Assembly elections were manipulated by the authorities to ensure a favourable result.[1][2] Following the victory of the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD) in the 1947 local elections, and with the MTLD and fellow nationalist UDMA set to win a majority in the Second College in the second round of voting, the authorities openly rigged the results in more than two-thirds of seats to ensure the victory of pro-government independents.

The rigging was so brazen that the phrase "élection algérienne" became synonymous with rigged elections.[3]

Conduct

[edit]

Marcel-Edmond Naegelen, a leading member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and Minister of Education in the French government, had been appointed by the government as Governor-General of Algeria on 11 February 1948. Naegelen was the son of an Alsatian who had chosen to move to France after Germany's annexation of Alsace in 1870, and he was strongly against the Alsatian autonomists ("separatists"), and developed the same hostility towards the Algerian "separatists".

Together with the French authorities, he organised the rigging of the elections and the sabotage of the new (1947) status of Algeria, strongly opposed by the allies of the SFIO in the French government coalition, who threatened to withdraw their support. Among them was the leader of the "French Algeria" lobby, the deputy of Constantine René Mayer.

Candidates were arrested before the elections, ballot boxes were stuffed by the colonial administration and the voting in the villages (douars) took place without polling booths under the surveillance of the army. Algerian nationalists triumphed in the first round of the elections, but performed significantly worse in the second as a result of the rigging.[4][5][6]

Results

[edit]

As a result of the rigging, of the 60 Second College seats, the MTLD won only nine, including Messali Hadj, Larbi Demaghlatrous (future ambassador of independent Algeria to Indonesia and Yugoslavia), Chawki Mostefaï and Djilani Embarek, whilst the UDMA won eight, including Ferhat Abbas, whilst 43 went to independents, often labelled as béni-oui-oui. Among the 60 First College seats, there were four socialists, one communist and 55 right-wingers.

PartyFirst CollegeSecond CollegeTotal
seats
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Algerian Union–Rally of the French People40040
Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties099
Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto088
French Section of the Workers' International404
Algerian Communist Party101
Radical Party202
Independent Radicals404
Independent Federalists011
Independent Socialists011
Independents94150
Total6060120
Source: Documents algériens. Série politique

Aftermath

[edit]

After the elections, Ferhat Abbas has been reported to have told Maréchal Juin «Il n'y a plus d'autre solution que les mitraillettes.» ("There is no other solution left than the submachine guns").[5]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Frank Tachau (1994) Political parties of the Middle East and North Africa, Greenwood Press, p10
  2. ^ Kahler, Miles (1984). Decolonization in Britain and France: The Domestic Consequences of International Relations. Princeton University Press. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-1-4008-5558-2.
  3. ^ Algeria: Polarization and Politicization Country Data
  4. ^ André Mandouze (1998) Mémoires d'outre-siècle - D'une résistance à l'autre, pp183–184 ISBN 978-2-87858-103-4
  5. ^ a b Bernard Droz & Evelyne Lever (1982) Histoire de la guerre d'Algérie, Seuil-Histoire, pp33–36
  6. ^ Marcel-Edmond Naegelen (1892-1978) Guy Pervillé
[edit]
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