Algeria Islamist party says won't join government

ALGIERS (AFP) - Algeria's largest legal Islamist party on Sunday announced that it would turn down any offer to join the government following legislative polls it claims were fraudulent.

The Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) is currently part of a governing coalition with the parties of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia.

In the run-up to the May 10 legislative vote, it had expected to benefit from the wave of electoral gains achieved by its Islamist counterparts in neighbouring nations in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Instead it lost ground while the National Liberation Front (FLN) and the allied National Democratic Rally boosted their seat tally, giving them a comfortable majority without the MSP.

"The MSP has decided not to take part in the next government in protest at the regime's attitude," party spokesman Kamel Mida told AFP.

The MSP -- which is the Algerian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood -- had 51 seats in the outgoing national assembly but could only manage 47 in a house enlarged by 73 seats.

The FLN, the former single party which has dominated Algerian politics since independence from France in 1962, took 221 out of the 462 seats up for grabs on May 10, according to official results.

The MSP, which quit a parliamentary coalition in January to form the Green Algeria electoral alliance with two smaller moderate Islamist movements, has accused the regime of rigging the vote.

The FLN's secretary general, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, had hinted after the vote that the MSP could yet be invited to remain in a government coalition regardless of its electoral setback.

The MSP has lost much of its credibility among the Islamist electorate over its participation in previous governments.

It held four of the richest ministries in the outgoing government: tourism, fisheries, public works and trade.

"We have decided to maintain the Green Algeria alliance, bolster its structure and sit in the national assembly," Kamel Mida said.

Many Algerians, opposition parties and analysts argue that the results announced by the interior ministry and confirmed by the constitutional council have little correlation with reality.

Twenty political parties that have denounced the vote as fixed are due to meet in Algiers Monday to harmonise their stance.