Unsurprisingly, outgoing Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was re-elected for a second term on Sunday 8 September. According to the electoral authority, Mr Tebboune received 94.65% of the votes cast.
Voters turned out poorly for these elections, with a turnout of less than 50%. The president of the electoral authority, Mohamed Charfi, announced on Saturday evening that “an average participation rate of 48.03% at 8 pm”without specifying the number of voters. It is about “a preliminary figure”said.
The re-election of Tebboune, 78, was all the more certain since four major parties supported his candidacy, in particular the National Liberation Front (formerly the sole party) and the Islamist movement El Bina. “The winner is known in advance”taking into account “quality”of “unusually small number” competitors and “the conditions under which the election campaign was conducted, which is just a comedy”said Mohamed Hennad, a political scientist, on Facebook.
Facing the outgoing president are two little-known candidates: Abdelaali Hassani, a 57-year-old civil engineer and leader of the Movement for Peace, the main Islamist party, and Youcef Aouchiche, 41, a former journalist and senator, head of the Front of Socialist Forces, the oldest opposition party, anchored in Kabylia.
The candidate of the Peace Society Movement published a statement on Sunday denouncing “violations” during the elections for “inflate the results”.
