1948 Algerian Assembly election
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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 was composed of around 1,500,000 Europeans and "meritorious" Muslims, and the second of around 8,000,000 Muslims. However, following the victory of the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD) in the 20 October 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.[1]
Marcel-Edmond Naegelen, a leading member of the French Socialist Party (SFIO), had been appointed by the government as general governor of Algeria on 11 February 1948 to organize the rigging of these elections and of the new 1947 status of Algeria. Candidates are arrested before the elections, ballot boxes are stuffed by the colonial administration and the voting in the villages (douars) takes place without polling booths under the surveillance of the army.[2][3]
As a result, among the 60 "indigenous" seats, the MTLD won only nine seats, including Messali Hadj and Larbi Demaghlatrous (future ambassador of independent Algeria in Jakarta and Belgrade), the nationalist Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto eight, including Ferhat Abbas, the socialists one, whilst 42 went to independents ("administrative" deputies). Among the 60 "European" seats, there were 4 socialists, 1 communist and 55 rightists.
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).[3]
References
- ^ Algeria: Polarization and Politicization Country-Data.com
- ^ « Membre éminent de la SFIO, Naegelen n'a été choisi que pour couvrir le sabotage pratique dudit statut. » in: André Mandouze, Mémoires d'outre-siècle - D'une résistance à l'autre, Ed. Viviane Hamy, 1998, ISBN 9782878581034 pp.183-184
- ^ a b Bernard Droz, Evelyne Lever, Histoire de la guerre d'Algérie, Paris, Seuil-Histoire, 1982, page 33-36
Further resources
- Les élections à l'assemblée algérienne, Les Actualités françaises, 8 April 1948 (42s)
- Opening of the Algerian Assembly I (never broadcasted), Les Actualités françaises, 1948 (59s)
- Opening of the Algerian Assembly II (not broadcasted), Les Actualités françaises, 1948 (03min39s)
- Opening of the Algerian Assembly III (not broadcasted), Les Actualités françaises, 1948 (01min07s)
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