This weekend, Algeria and its 47 million inhabitants are going to have a new president. The identity of the new elected president is practically already known though, in a country that was not really interested in the election, as showed by the participation rate.
The outgoing president of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune is expected to win the current ballot, and very few people in Algeria are convinced that one of his two contenders can beat him. While 24 million electors have been summoned to elect their next president, the participation rate barely reached 50% (48,03%).
According to Mohamed Hennad, expert in politics, the winner of the Algerian election is already known because of the low quality of Tebboune’s adversaries and their small number (two candidates decided to compete with Tebboune who runs for a second consecutive term), without mentioning the conditions of the election, qualified as a “comedy” by the expert. Tebboune, 78 years old, is supported by the major political parties of the country.
His two competitors are barely known: Abdelaali Hassani, 57 years old, and Youcef Aouchiche, 41 years old. The first one runs the main Islamic party of the country, while the second one is ruling the oldest opposition party of Algeria.
In 2019, Tebboune had been elected on a low participation rate after twenty years of reign of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. In Algeria, most electors are said to be already sure of the results no matter what they do. This form of discouragement can explain why the participation rate did not overtake 50%. In 2019, the abstention rate reached 60%.
Tebboune wants to make Algeria less dependent on hydrocarbon and improve the purchasing power of the Algerian people. He wishes to increase pensions and wages, rise the employment rate with 450 000 new
jobs, and invest in accommodation by building up two million new flats/houses