Shortly after he was voted into office, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune described his presidential term as a “transitional” one. At the time, Tebboune, who was elected with 58 percent of votes and around 40 percent voter turnout, was trying to assuage the anger of the Hirak anti-government protests and level the ground for his eventual successor. Yet, five years later, Tebboune announced that he was running for a second term, and he is expected to win comfortably on September 7.
Tebboune submitted the necessary documents to run on July 11, just one week before the deadline, quashing any uncertainty surrounding his decision. To justify his decision to run, he explained that he had been urged to do so by other political parties and the civil society.
In fact, Algeria’s traditionally established political parties have not put forth any other candidates for the elections. The National Liberation Front (which ran the country single-party state until the late 1980s) and the National Democratic Rally (also associated with the Algerian authorities) have even formed a coalition and called on the population to vote for Tebboune so that he “continues the development process.”
Is it all a question of timing?
Tebboune’s mandate was initially scheduled to end in December 2024, yet in March, the presidency announced that it would be moving up the date of the election by three months. No specific reason was put forward to justify moving the election up in the calendar. Tebboune’s only curt explanation was that the calendar change was based on “purely technical considerations,” leaving observers perplexed.
Some believe that the date was moved up as September as it would be harder for opponents to mobilize their bases. Holding an election in September means that the electoral campaign took place in the middle of August, where scorching hot temperatures rendered it difficult to organize protests. Employees and civil servants were also taking their summer vacation, which also minimized the risk of strikes.
Finally, the late announcement of Tebboune’s candidacy was timely in that it came a few days after Algeria’s Independence Day on July 5. The holiday was chock full of events for the president, with the inauguration of 251,000 housing units, a state-of-the-art football stadium, as well as the Algerian Cup final, a popular event that is always celebrated across the country.
Boasting about the positives
Although the president only officially announced his intention to run on July 11, he had been campaigning for several months, taking advantage of each outing to boast about his record and explain that he had met the expectations expressed by Algerians during the Hirak protest movement.
According to him, his mandate was a successful fight against corruption and “dirty money,” a demand expressed by Algerians who went out to demonstrate in 2019. Tebboune equally prides himself on having recovered some of the money held abroad by oligarchs close to former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, as well as having taken measures for the economy’s growth (with an increase of over 4 percent of the GDP in 2023 according to the ministry of finance), and reinvigorating Algeria’s foreign policy. Over the last few years, the country became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, hosted an Arab League Summit, and attempted to join BRICS. Although the membership was rejected, it still successfully managed to join the bloc’s New Development Bank.
This new position of strength has allowed the country to regain an international presence, as demonstrated by its participation in the G7 summit organized in Italy last June
For Tebboune’s supporters, most of his accomplishments are related to the economy. During his presidency, Algeria became one of the first African countries to introduce unemployment benefits for youth between the ages of 19 and 40. The monthly stipend currently stands at 15,000 Algerian dinars (around $110) and has been used by over 2 million Algerians so far.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and rising inflation, estimated at over 7 percent this year according to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Tebboune has benefited from the increase in oil and gas prices following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. This allowed Algeria to replenish its coffers with foreign exchange reserves, which were estimated at $69 billion at the end of 2023. Algeria was also asked by its southern European partners to increase the flow of its energy export to them. This new position of strength has allowed the country to regain an international presence, as demonstrated by its participation in the G7 summit organized in Italy last June, a country with which Tebboune maintains excellent political and economic relations.
Repression, a stain on Tebboune’s presidency
If the macroeconomic and diplomatic progress are positive attributes of the Tebboune presidency, his repression of civil liberties is an indelible black mark on it. Algeria still has more than 200 prisoners of conscience, including journalists and activists. Many whistleblowers, such as Zaki Hannache, a young activist that posted daily judicial news about prisoners of conscience on social media, are now in exile.
The disintegration of the Algerian press over the last five years has been frightening. The few independent media houses that existed face financial troubles due to the difficulty of accessing funding of any kind. A new law passed in 2023 prohibits access to foreign funding—whether crowdfunding, or grants—while the archaic banking system makes it difficult to establish online payment. As for foreign media, very few have offices or correspondents on the ground due to a lack of accreditation.
For instance, journalist and independent press publisher Ihsane El Kadi, is currently serving a five-year sentence after he was found guilty of having received foreign funding on June 18, 2023. El Kadi was a prominent voice that made space for the independent and opposing voices through his media outlet. Since his arrest, the offices of his radio station and news website have been sealed by the authorities; although his employees maintained their activity for some time, they ended up throwing in the towel in June 2024.
Journalists are subject to regular intimidation that has become formalized in recent years
Journalists are subject to regular intimidation that has become formalized in recent years, through the arrest and harassment of those who speak critically of the government even in non-explicitly political areas. A most recent example dates back to the end of June when two journalists from the Arabic-language news site “Algeria Scoop” were detained and prosecuted for “inciting hate speech” and “spreading hate speech.” Their prosecution was caused by the publication of a report featuring entrepreneurs from the south of Algeria who claimed to be marginalized during an event related to entrepreneurial creation and chaired by a minister.
Journalists who will be allowed to cover the presidential elections will most likely be, as for previous elections, handpicked by the authorities. This will not be a new occurrence: For instance, prior to the 2019 presidential elections, several French journalists were not granted visas to cover the election campaign and vote. The authorities reserve the right to filter entries by issuing very few visas and accreditations for journalists and ensuring that the movements of foreign journalists are monitored by housing them in the same hotels and limiting travel in certain areas, such as the Kabyle region and the province of Ghardaia in the Sahara.
To boycott or to participate?
Boycott or participate: this is the question that Algerian parties and voters face every presidential election. Two days after Tebboune’s candidacy was announced, one of the three female candidates, Louisa Hanoune, president of the Workers’ Party (Trotskyist), announced that she was withdrawing her candidacy. She stated that the legislative framework was “regressive and anti-democratic” and that the conditions were not right for a free election. The Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), one of the main opposition parties that advocates for a secular state and is well established in the Kabyle region, has already announced that it will not present any candidate. They published a statement calling the elections a “hoax” due to the absence of a proper campaign.
Boycott or participate: this is the question that Algerian parties and voters face every presidential election
The only two credible parties that will participate in the elections are the historical opposition party, Socialist Forces Front and the Movement of Society and Peace. However, even they have faced judicial harassment and have been shunned by major public and private media channels. The former secretary general of Movement of Society and Peace, Abderrezak Mokri, publicly criticized Tebboune on several occasions and was reportedly banned from leaving the country, and the party has also complained about the current campaign and the lack of media time allotted to them.
For many Algerians, the question is not whether Tebboune will be re-elected, as it seems like it is a done deal. Rather, the question is if this election will allow him to acquire the legitimacy that the 2019 election did not grant him due to low voter turnout. If Tebboune fails to produce voter enthusiasm, he risks running into obstacles in carrying out his plans throughout his second term. With just a few days to go before the vote takes place, the real subject of suspense in Algeria is not the result of the election itself, but rather the participation percentages of the voter turnout.