On June 2, 1992, Edward Djerejian, a State Department veteran then serving as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, expressed concern over the emergence in Algeria of the Front Islamique du Salut, an Islamist political party that was leading in election polls before its disbanding by the military, triggering a decadelong civil war.

“We are suspect of those who would use the democratic process to come to power, only to destroy that very process in order to retain power and political dominance,” Djerejian asserted. “While we believe in the principle of ‘one person, one vote,’ we do not support ‘one person, one vote, one time.’”