ALGIERS, March 6 (IslamOnline.net) - Incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a second term in office gained momentum with the pledged support of Ennahda (Renaissance) Movement and the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP).

Ennahda exhorts supporters to vote for Bouteflika in order to "guarantee cohesion and maintain national interests", the movement’s secretary general Yazid Benaicha told reporters on Friday, March 5.

He said Bouteflika had addressed several files which figure high on the political agenda of his movement.

This includes, he added, enhancing the use of the Arabic language in official circles after a conspicuous eclipse in 1990s and handling of the missing people crisis.

Benaicha recalled that Bouteflika had ordered investigation into the vanishing of 7,000 Algerians.

The president also pardoned opinion prisoners, the most prominent of whom were leader of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) Abassi Madani and his deputy Ali Belhadj.

"Backing Bouteflika is a position that is in harmony with the movement's march and history," Abdel-Wahab Derbal, a leading figure of the Islamic-leaning movement told IslamOnline.net.

He recalled that in 1999 his movement was the first to propose the idea of a candidate of consensus, as Bouteflika was then described.

Bouteflika remains the likely compotator to win

A well-informed source in Ennahda movement told IOL that a deal was clinched between Bouteflika and the movement after the mediation of Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem.

The movement leaders agreed to back the president in the April elections in return for at least one portfolio in his would-be cabinet, added the source.

He noted that the Algerian reader promised to help "revive the movement after its tragic collapse in 2002 legislative elections".

Ennahda has one representative in parliament, compared to 34 members in the outgoing legislature.

Observers attributed the downfall to the departure of the movement leader Sheikh Abdallah Jaballah, who now heads the National Reform Movement.

Jaballah is an ardent competitor in the coming elections on a platform allowing the FIS leaders a return to the political scene.

In 1992, the government scrapped elections results after a sweeping victory of FIS candidates in the first round.

More support poured into Bouteflika's re-election bid with the MSP saying it would stand by him for a second time after 1999 vote.

General Larbi Belkheir, the head of the presidential Chief of Staff, mediated for the MSP backing, a member of the group told IOL.

And it worked, as Bouteflika promised further luring posts in the cabinet and diplomatic missions.

But the MSP came under fire with Jaballah accusing the movement of hypocrisy for "selling the Islamic cause off cheap on auction."

Jaballah charged that MSP members raise aloft the Islamic solution to end the country's crises but do the opposite.

Bouteflika is facing five competitors, who survived the selection process requiring 75,000 signatures, but is expected to clinch a second term.

Among the candidates running for presidency is former prime minister Ali Benflis.