ALGIERS — The college students playing pick-up soccer along the faded grandeur of Algiers' sweeping waterfront say they won't be voting in Thursday's presidential elections, echoing the sentiments of many young Algerians. They want jobs and housing when they graduate and lack loyalty to a political system run by an aging man too frail to show up for a single campaign event. Boycotting is the main form of protest against an election that 77-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is expected to win despite his glaring absence, because powerful institutions of the state are firmly wedded to maintaining Algeria's status quo. But dissatisfaction in this key energy producer and US ally in the fight against terrorism is growing in the face of a sclerotic political system that does little to include the 80 percent of the population of 37 million under the age of 45. "After we finish our studies there's only unemployment and you need connections to get to work," said Redouane Baba Abdi, as he sat on a bench before the game on the paved esplanade between the Mediterranean sea and the flaking colonial-era buildings of Bab El-Oued neighborhood. "Most people don't want Bouteflika for a fourth term, he's like the walking dead." Bouteflika made no appearances in the three-week election campaign, leaving it to his ministers and close associates to rally interest in his re-election. After a stroke last year that left him speaking and walking with difficulty, he has limited himself to carefully scripted TV appearances with foreign visitors like US Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this month. Bouteflika changed the constitution in 2008 so he could remain president, but a fourth term might be step too far even for a country that was barely affected by the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings. Several Bouteflika rallies were canceled after they were disrupted by demonstrations, raising fears that another victory could lead to greater unrest. While Bouteflika's rule has been characterized by economic growth thanks to high oil prices and return to stability after the battles against the Islamists in the 1990s, heavy government spending is running up against dwindling oil reserves and falling prices. The country is still run by the same generation that won the war of independence from France in 1962 and shows little interest in involving others. "We are in a backward world, it's the old telling the young to get out of the way," said Abderrahmane Hadj-Nacer, a former central bank governor and analyst. "The people have been corrupted by the distribution of houses and jobs — productivity has been destroyed." In fact, those disaffected young students playing soccer have their education and housing paid for by the government, and they talk about waiting to be given a job rather than going out and finding one. "We have taught our youth to just to stick out their hand," Hadj-Nacer added. Stability and the largesse of the state have been the main themes of the campaign by the president's surrogates, who have warned that perks like free housing could come to an end or civil war could return if the president is not re-elected. Oil and gas make up 95 percent of the country's exports and 63 percent of the budget revenue but employs only 2 percent of the labor force. Worse, reserves are dwindling and the country's trade balance is expected to go negative in the face of a massive importation bill. — AP
