Algeria’s Tebboune shortens his term without explaining
Few days after the Algerien presidency announced elections on September 7 instead of December, neither President Tebboune nor any Algerian official gave an explanation why the vote would take place before the end of the current mandate.
Tebboune has not taken the effort of giving a public address to tell his people why he decided to shorten his term, a move that is considered in democracies that respect voters as a failure to uphold the mandate.
Analyst and opposition activist, Abdou Semmar, said that the early elections are rather meant to hasten the second term of Tebboune, who has yet to make his re-election bid formal.
Faithful to their propaganda and disinformation tactics, the Algerian regime responded to critics through its mouthpiece APS press agency, which argued that the surprise announcement was meant by the president to “destabilize opponents.”
The APS article added that early elections would ironically restore stability in the country and pave the way out of the crisis. Between the lines, the article that reflects the regime’s mindset acknowledged that Algeria is suffering instability and undergoing a crisis!
The same article evokes “external threats” and an “anticipation of planned upheavals” as reasons for violating the presidential elections calendar, while calling for “unity” of the Algerian people against the perceived threats.
The article has in fact offered insight into a fragile Algerian regime that is more concerned with perpetuating its interests than respecting the free will of the Algerian people.
Analysts see in early elections a move to bar the road for any credible opposition figure from partaking in the polls. It also offers little time for any competitor to prepare.
Holding elections in September, means that the electoral campaign has to take place in August, a very hot month where people rather stay home or go to the beach to enjoy their vacations.
An electoral campaign in August would prevent the evolution of mass protests in Algiers immolating the 2019 Hirak, when disenchanted Algerians took to the streets demanding a clean break with the military regime.
“It is a tragedy that five years after brave Algerians took to the streets in their masses to demand political change and reforms, the authorities have continued to wage a chilling campaign of repression,” Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa said in a February report.
