The Dilemma of New Political Parties on Participating in Initial Post-Authoritarian Pluralistic Elections: Lessons from the Algerian Example

This article examines a neglected aspect of research on “democratic transitions”: the dilemma of new political parties concerning participation in first post-authoritarian pluralistic elections. The analysis highlights the pre-selection requirements of candidate parties in a context of sudden democratization. Based on the Algerian case, we shows that this participation is not straightforward for individuals who lack any electoral experience and who only have an extremely short time frame to become involved in a series of activities which are unfamiliar to them e.g. selecting a large number of candidates throughout the country, preparing application forms and organizing an electoral campaign, even if the vast majority of them have had the advantage of experience as opposition militants which will be particularly useful.