Aftermath of Algeria’s show elections

Nearly a week after Algeria’s show election, the electoral committee still has not offered accurate figures on the results and turnout.

The elections were marked by a large-scale indifference of the 24.5 million Algerian registered voters, with only 5 million- mostly those who benefit from state rent- casting ballots.

Authorities said Tebboune won by 94%. A result he, himself, and the other sham candidates denounced as inaccurate. The three candidates have also cast a shadow of doubt over the near 50% turnout announced by authorities.

In the breakaway Kabylia region, turnout was near zero as usual.

Journalist in exile, Abdou Semmar, said the electoral boycott is a new silent Hirak, by which the population expresses its disenchantment and disappointment at a military junta organizing sham elections.

The campaign took place in August in the extreme heat where most people are on holidays.

Some media like France’s L’Opinion, citing election observers, said turnout did not exceed 10%.

The regime chose to involve a Kabylian socialist Youcef Aouchiche and an Islamist Abdelali Hassani Cherif to give an electoral show. The two candidates received 2.1% and 3% of votes respectively.

“An official participation rate of 48.03% was announced for an electorate of 24.35 million voters, which should have resulted in eleven million voters. However, the results published – several hours late – showed 5.63 million voters, a real rate of 23%. Did five million votes disappear? Moreover, participation was almost nil in some regions: around 3% in the wilayas of Tizi-Ouzou and Bejaïa,” former French ambassador to Algiers Xavier Driencourt told Le Figaro.

The low turnout points once more to a legitimacy crisis of Tebboune and the military junta behind him.