KEY POINTS
- President Tebboune wins re-election with 95% of the vote.
- Opposition claims irregularities in vote counting, raising concerns over election fairness.
- Low voter turnout highlights growing disillusionment among Algerians.
Algeria’s President, Abdulmadjid Tebboune, has been reelected for another term in office after having garnered 95% of the votes in the recently conducted presidential vote.
However, the outcome of this landslide victory is causing a controversy whereby some opposition figures express their dissatisfaction with the results that they term to have been a fraud. The voter turnout recorded in the election was a meagre 48 percent, which pointed at the increasing voter apathy of the Algerians.
Opposition cries foul
Tebboune faced only two challengers in the election: a candidate named Abdelaali Hassani Cherif, who belongs to the moderate Islamist stream, and Youcef Aouchiche, who is a secularist. Each candidate has raised fear about errors within the voting process, particularly in the counting of the votes.
The camp of Hassani Cherif accused the polling officials of intimidation to increase the figures and refusal to present the vote receipts to the candidates’ representatives. Other concerns, as reported in some publications, included proxy voting, through which groups were believed to vote on behalf of others.
Hassani Cherif’s spokesman, Ahmed Sadok, strongly retorted, and in his words, he said, ‘This is a farce’. He stated, therefore, that Cherif had polled more votes than had been indicated by the official results. The allies of Tebboune have not issued any comments on this issue and for that reason, Reuters could not confirm the assertions of Cherif.
Algeria’s head of the parliamentary election, Mohammed Charfi, said that there are complaints but the results are true. He was more specific in saying that the election was free, fair and open, with a level playing field provided to all the contestants. But, the issues from the opposition groups continued to escalate the issue.
A divided electorate
Algeria’s lack of voter participation indicated a clear fact that the country’s leaders were not in touch with the masses. A large number of the populace have lost faith in the electoral process and opted to stay away from voting. According to Reuters, Slimane, a 24-year-old from the capital, Algers said he has not gone out because he does not believe in politicians. ‘Ah, people hardly vote, they demonstrate this by staying away from votes.’ This is the view of many young Algerians as it is.
Although it has a low turnout, the re-election of Tebbuone hints that Algeria will maintain the status quo in terms of governance. His policies are thus in social activities such as raising unemployment benefits and expending pensions most of which are from Algeria’s oil exports.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, European demand for Algerian gas has soared, giving the government more resources to spend on social handouts.
However, despite these economic reforms, challenges persist. Unemployment, although lower than during the pandemic, remains above 12 percent. Inflation also continues to be a problem for ordinary Algerians, adding to the widespread dissatisfaction seen in the low turnout.