The turnout, below 50%, was the main issue in this election, from which the outgoing president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, is expected to emerge victorious.
Three hours behind schedule for his press briefing, the president of the electoral authority Anie, Mohamed Charfi, announced “an average participation rate of 48.03% at 8 p.m.” (7 p.m. GMT) this Saturday, September 7, without specifying the number of voters compared to the more than 24 million registered voters. This is “a preliminary figure,” he indicated. The results of the vote are expected on Sunday.
In December 2019, Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected with 58% of the vote but with a turnout of only 39.83% (i.e. an abstention rate of 60%), in a context marked by the hostility of the pro-democracy demonstrators of Hirak and calls for a boycott of political parties.
On Saturday, the turnout was very timid when the polls opened at 8am (7am GMT) and television images showed only a few offices with long queues. At the end of the day, the Anie delayed the closing by an hour, at the request of “certain coordinators” of the vote.
In the afternoon, in a polling station in central Algiers, women swelled the ranks of voters, who initially had been all men, such as Sidali Mahmoudi, a 65-year-old shopkeeper who came “early to do his duty in all democracy.” Taous Zaiedi, a 66-year-old retiree, and Leila Belgaremi, a 42-year-old accountant, said they were voting “so that the country improves.”
Two candidates facing Tebboune
Facing the outgoing president, two candidates were in the running: Abdelaali Hassani , a 57-year-old engineer, head of the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP, the main Islamist party) and Youcef Aouchiche , 41, a former journalist and senator, head of the Front of Socialist Forces (FFS, the oldest opposition party).
Abdelmadjid Tebboune is the big favourite, benefiting from the support of four major parties, including the National Liberation Front (FLN, former single party).
Hasni Abidi, from the Cermam Study Center in Geneva, explained the low turnout by “a mediocre campaign ” with two competitors who “were not up to the task” and a president who “barely hosted four meetings.” For voters, “what was the point of voting if all the predictions were in favor of the president,” the expert added.
Around 24.5 million voters, including a third under 40, out of 45 million inhabitants were summoned. After a morning vote, Abdelaali Hassani had hoped for a “high turnout” which “gives greater credibility” to the elections, while Youcef Aouchiche also urged “Algerians to participate in force” to emerge “definitively from the boycott and despair”.
Without mentioning the turnout, Abdelmadjid Tebboune considered it essential that “the winner pursues [his] project, decisive for Algeria, in order to reach a point of no return in economic development and the construction of a democracy.”
All three candidates said they wanted to improve purchasing power and revive the economy, so that it would be less dependent on hydrocarbons (95% of foreign currency earnings).
Aided by the natural gas windfall, of which Algeria is the leading African exporter, Abdelmadjid Tebboune has promised to raise salaries and pensions, two million new homes and 450,000 new jobs, to make Algeria “the second economy in Africa”, behind South Africa.
Seeking to win over the younger generation, Tebboune asked for five more years to complete projects hampered by Covid-19 and the corruption of his predecessor, of whom he was nevertheless a minister.
“Freeing prisoners of conscience”
His rivals have promised more freedoms. Notably the FFS candidate , who has pledged to “free prisoners of conscience through an amnesty and to review unjust laws” on terrorism and the media. For Abidi, the Hirak movement, stifled by Covid-related bans on gatherings and the arrest of its leading figures, has “shown the high level of political maturity” of Algerians.
If he wins the election, Tebboune “will survive a deficit of popular support, but on condition that he completely reviews his method of governance and makes changes to his team.” Otherwise, the “deficit of democracy” in his record could constitute a handicap in a new mandate.
The NGO Amnesty International accused the government this week of continuing to “stifle civic space by maintaining a harsh repression of human rights”, with “new arbitrary arrests” and “a zero tolerance approach to dissenting opinions “.
