By Canadian Press

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is elected to serve second term in gas-rich Algeria

Sep 8, 2024 | 11:14 AM

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been named the winner of Algeria’s presidential election, granting him another term leading the gas-rich North African nation five years after pro-democracy protests led to the ouster of his predecessor.

In a result that surprised few observers internationally or in Algeria, the country’s independent election authority on Sunday announced that Tebboune had won 94% of the vote, far outpacing his challengers Islamist Abdelali Hassani Cherif, who received only 3% and socialist Youcef Aouchiche, who got just 2.1%.

Election officials reported less than six million of the country’s 24 million voters had turned out to vote on Saturday, perpetuating the low voter turnout rates that marred Tebboune’s first term and raised questions about his popular support.

Tebboune’s total vote share was far more than the 87% that Vladimir Putin won in Russia’s March elections and the 92% that Ilham Aliyev got in Azerbaijan’s February contest. Independent observers were permitted in neither Russia nor Algeria and were arrested in Azerbaijan.

Tebboune’s margin of victory far outpaces his 2019 victory, when he won 58% of the vote and his closest challenger nabbed 17%.

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Officials had yet to announce official turnout figures as of Sunday afternoon, though the preliminary totals did not correspond to provisional turnout figures announced late Saturday night, when the election authority said turnout had been 48% in Algeria and 19.6% for precincts abroad.

Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area and, with almost 45 million people, it’s the continent’s second most populous after South Africa to hold presidential elections in 2024 — a year in which more than 50 elections are being held worldwide, encompassing more than half the world’s population.

Throughout the campaign, activists and international organizations, including Amnesty International, railed against the campaign season’s repressive atmosphere and the harassment and prosecutions of those involved in opposition parties, media organizations and civil society groups. Some denounced this election as a rubber stamp exercise that can only entrench the status quo.

But Tebboune and his two challengers each urged political participation and specifically made overtures to the Algerian youth, who make up a majority of the population and disproportionately suffer from poverty and unemployment.

Almost half of voters in the gas-rich North African nation voted, the National Independent Authority for Elections said hours after polls had closed. The provisional figure reported outpaces the voter turnout from five years ago, when Abdelmadjid Tebboune won his first term as president in a race widely boycotted by pro-democracy protestors whose weekly demonstrations led to the ouster of his predecessor.

Higher turnout was a widely publicized goal for Tebboune and his two challengers. Each of the three candidates encouraged political participation while other activists and political parties called for another boycott, fearing the election could only entrench and legitimize the status quo.

Before officials announced Tebboune’s massive victory, his opponents grumbled about delays and claimed irregularities in how records have been reported to the public and the candidates’ campaign offices.

In a statement on Sunday, Islamist Abdelali Hassani Cherif’s campaign manager Ahmed Sadok drew attention to that timeline and claimed there had been a failure to deliver vote-sorting records to the candidates’ representatives. He said the Movement of Society for Peace, Cherif’s moderate Islamist party had recorded instances of proxy group voting and pressure put on poll workers to inflate certain figures, which it did not specify.

The Associated Press