Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune re-elected with record score

Photo: Fateh Guidoum Associated Press A ballot shows Algeria’s incumbent President Abdelmajid Tebboune during the presidential election on Saturday.

Agence France-Presse in Algiers

Posted at 4:06 p.m.

• Africa

Algeria’s outgoing president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, secured a landslide victory for a second term in Saturday’s presidential election, with nearly 95% of the vote, in a poll marked by persistent voter disaffection.

The president of the electoral authority (ANIE), Mohamed Charfi, announced on Sunday a victory for Mr. Tebboune with “94.65% of the vote” and “5.32 million votes” cast, without providing new figures on turnout, estimated the day before at “an average rate of 48.03%.”

The turnout was the real issue in the vote, with Mr. Tebboune wanting to be “a normal president, not a poorly elected president” like five years ago, Hasni Abidi, an analyst and director of the CERMAM study center in Geneva, told AFP.

In December 2019, Mr. Tebboune, 78, won the election with 58% of the vote, but a turnout of 39.83% (60% abstention). At the time, the election took place in the tense context of the Hirak, the massive movement for democracy and freedoms that had just ousted his predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power, and with calls for a boycott.

Facing the outgoing president, only two candidates were in the running: Abdelaali Hassani, 57, head of the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP, the main Islamist party), who won 3.17% of the vote, and Youcef Aouchiche, 41, head of the Front of Socialist Forces (FFS, the oldest opposition party), who won 2.16%.

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« Masquerade »

Ahmed Sadouk, campaign director for moderate Islamist candidate Abdelaali Hassani, expressed his “great disapproval and astonishment,” calling the figures announced by Mr. Charfi, particularly on turnout, a “masquerade.” “These results undermine the elections and tarnish the country’s image,” he said.

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After announcing an “average turnout” 7 points lower than in 2019 at 5 p.m. local time, the ANIE extended voting by one hour on Saturday until 8 p.m.

In a statement, the MSP described the ANIE’s “average turnout” as a “bizarre term,” representing an average of regional surveys, while turnout is usually calculated by dividing the number of voters by the number of registered voters (24.5 million in total).

Fahima Hamlaoui, a 41-year-old Franco-Algerian, said she was “happy” with Mr. Tebboune’s re-election, “whether people like it or not.” “I like him, I don't know much about him but I have a good feeling,” she told AFP in front of the candidate's office.

Mr. Tebboune was the clear favorite in the election, benefiting from the support of four major parties, notably the National Liberation Front (FLN, former single party).

The three candidates said they wanted to continue the recovery of the economy (which has been growing at a rate of 4% for two years) and make it less dependent on hydrocarbons (95% of foreign currency earnings).

“A failure”

Helped by the windfall of natural gas, of which Algeria is the leading African exporter, Mr. Tebboune promised to increase pensions and salaries, 450,000 new jobs, housing and to make Algeria “the second largest economy in Africa ».

For Mr. Abidi, Mr. Tebboune's record score is “not a surprise given the profile of his competitors and the resources deployed” for his campaign.

But “he has only won 319,000 votes since 2019 and has only turned out a little over 5 million voters out of 24 million registered, or less than a quarter. A failure that requires a thorough overhaul of his policy,” he told AFP on Sunday.

“It is a victory that looks like a warning,” notably due to the failure to win over the electorate of young people who represent more than half of the 45 million Algerians and a third of the electorate, according to Mr. Abidi.

Without a review of “his method of governance and without changes in his team,” the “deficit of democracy” in his record could constitute a handicap in his new mandate, the analyst added.

While Mr. Tebboune did not mention this issue, his rivals had promised more political and media rights and freedoms during their campaign.

According to the Algerian National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), dozens of people linked to the Hirak or to the defense of freedoms are still imprisoned or prosecuted.

Before the vote, the NGO Amnesty International accused the government of continuing to “stifle civic space by maintaining a severe repression of human rights”, with “arbitrary arrests” and “zero tolerance of dissenting voices”.