Algerians must elect their president on September 7. The Algerian Constitutional Court has only validated three candidacies. No important figure from Hirak, the pro-democracy movement, could appear. The outgoing president, a symbol of the regime, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, is the clear favorite. Overview of the candidates.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 78 years old, the regime’s candidate
The outgoing president announced on July 11 that he wanted to run for a second term after having anticipated – by four months – at the beginning of September the presidential election in this North African country of 45 million inhabitants, rich in hydrocarbons and leading exporter of African gas.
He was elected in December 2019 during an election with a low turnout (around 40%), in the wake of the Hirak, these massive pro-democracy demonstrations which led to the fall in April of the same year of his predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika after 20 years of power.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune has the support of four leading political groups that have sealed an alliance, including the former single party FLN (National Liberation Front) and the Islamist movement El Bina of Abdelkader Bengrina, which came second in the presidential election of 2019.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune presented himself in 2019 as an independent candidate. But the politician was supported by the FLN. He has served several times as minister of numerous Algerian governments since 1991. Under President Bouteflika (1999-2019), notably that of housing and urban planning. The physically weakened President Bouteflika made him a short-lived Prime Minister in 2017. His presidential candidacy obtained the support of the then Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaïd Salah.`
During the constitutional reform presented as a response to the democratic aspirations of Algerians, President Tebboune wanted to be a defender of public freedoms in his speeches. The reality on the ground is quite different. Last July two Hirak activists were placed in pre-trial detention and six others are now on probation.
There we find the university teacher, Mira Mokhnache, a well-known figure in the defense of human rights. The charge is the same. Its activists are prosecuted on questions of terrorism thanks to an article in the penal code.
Abdelaali Hassani, candidate of the main Islamist party
This 57-year-old public works engineer is the president of the main Islamist party, the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP).
The MSP was created on December 6, 1990, by Mahfoud Nahnah who was its leader until he died in 2003. The MSP was quickly supplanted by the FIS, the Islamic Salvation Front in 1990. The FIS will take up arms against the Algerian military power. The MSP did not choose weapons. The MSP, which claims to be part of the Muslim Brotherhood, embodies a more moderate opposition to the Algerian government and seeks to remain legal.
The MSP was favorable to the national reconciliation project advocated by President Bouteflika (largely adopted by referendum) and notably provided for an amnesty for terrorists not convicted of crimes of murder or rape.
The Islamist movement did not participate in the 2019 ballot. What score can it obtain? What does the MSP weigh politically? In the 2002 legislative elections, the MSP obtained 7% of the votes and 36 deputies. The score of the only national Islamist formation authorized by the military power will be scrutinized by observers.
Youssef Ouachiche, the candidate of the Front of Socialist Forces
The third contender Youssef Ouachiche, a 41-year-old former journalist and MP, has been the leader of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS) since 2020. The FFS is a historic opposition party. It was founded in 1963 in opposition to the FLN government. Its historical leader was Hocine Aït Ahmed, a hero of the war of independence, exiled for a long time, who died in 2015.
The party defines itself as a left-wing and secular party. It is very well established in Kabylia and the major cities of Algeria. He boycotted the legislative elections in 2002, 2007, and the presidential election of 2009. In the 2012 legislative elections, he obtained 28 seats.
