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2024 Algerian presidential election

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2024 Algerian presidential election
← 2019 7 September 2024 2029 →
Registered24,351,551
Turnout46.10% (Increase 6.22pp)
 
Nominee Abdelmadjid Tebboune Abdelaali Hassani Cherif [fr] Youcef Aouchiche [fr]
Party Independent MSP FFS
Alliance FLN, RND, MB, FM
Popular vote 7,976,291 904,642 580,495
Percentage 84.30% 9.56% 6.14%
Results by province
Tebboune:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80-90%      90+%
President before election

Abdelmadjid Tebboune
Independent

Elected President

Abdelmadjid Tebboune
Independent

Politics of Algeria

African Union Member State of the African Union Arab League Member State of the Arab League

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Presidential elections were held in Algeria on 7 September 2024.[1][2] Originally scheduled for December 2024, they were brought forward by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Tebboune was challenged by Youcef Aouchiche of the Socialist Forces Front and Abdellah Hassan Cherif of the Movement of Society for Peace. Tebboune won a second term in office. Conflicting reports about the election's turnout by the National Independent Electoral Authority led to criticism from the three candidates. Aouchiche and Cherif challenged the results.

Background

[edit]

On 21 March 2024 the office of incumbent President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced that the election would be held on 7 September. This announcement was unexpected, as the election had been anticipated to occur in December as they were in 2019.[2] Tebboune later explained that the date was the optimal time to hold the election "because it coincides with the end of the summer vacations and the start of the new school year", hereby ensuring high turnout. However, some have questioned the logic of the timing, pointing out that a September election would mean that campaigning would be held amid scorching summer temperatures.[3]

Tebboune's selection of the election date was supported by his former political party, the FLN, which said that it was considering whether to endorse Tebboune or field its own candidate. Islamist parties also supported the election date, with Movement of Society for Peace leader Abderrazak Makri [fr] expressing interest in running for President, pending the party's decision on a scheduled summit in June. The Socialist Forces Front promised to make the election "an occasion for a great debate", while the Rally for Culture and Democracy described the early election as a "constitutional coup de force" that would force a timeline causing "the de facto exclusion of society as a whole."[3]

Tebboune's decision to set the elections in September also led to confusion among the Algerian public, with the Algerian Arabic phrase Ma fhemna walou (ما فهمنا ولو, "We didn't understand anything") becoming a trending topic on social media as a result.[3]

Electoral system

[edit]

The President of Algeria is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate had received a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round would have been held.[4] Candidates needed signatures from 600 elected officials or from 50,000 members of the public to be listed on the ballot.[5] For this election, there were around 24.5 million registered voters.[6] This election was administered by the National Independent Electoral Authority, which was established in 2019 as a response to demands from pro-democracy protestors. Algeria's Interior Ministry had previously been in charge of elections.[7]

Candidates

[edit]

On 11 July Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced his decision to run for a second term.[8]

Zoubida Assoul, a lawyer and former magistrate, announced her decision to run for president as the leader of the Union for Reform and Progress [fr] (UCP).[9] A total of 34 people expressed their intention to run for the presidency, including Youcef Aouchiche of the Socialist Forces Front, Abdellah Hassan Cherif of the Movement of Society for Peace; and Sadia Naghzi of the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises. Prospective candidates were required to collect a minimum number of signatures to register their candidacy before 18 July.[10] The number of candidates was subsequently reduced to 15.[11]

On 13 July Louisa Hanoune of the Workers' Party announced her withdrawal of her candidacy as president, citing "unfair conditions".[12]

On 1 August the attorney general of the court of Algiers announced the opening of an in-depth preliminary investigation concerning the sale of sponsorships by more than 50 elected officials to candidates for the presidential election. The prosecution announced that all the candidates involved will be arrested on the basis of the anti-corruption legislation in force.[13]

Only three candidates were allowed to appear on the final ballot: Tebboune, Aouchiche and Cherif.[14]

Campaign

[edit]

Attendance at campaign events was marred by low turnout due to high summer temperatures. Throughout the election season, Tebboune highlighted his administration's achievements despite corruption and the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria, while pledging to create 450,000 jobs after he is reelected and raise monthly unemployment benefits for people aged 19 to 40 from 13,000 dinars to 20,000, equivalent to the Algerian minimum wage.[15] Both Hassani and Aouchiche campaigned on allowing greater political and media freedoms, with the latter also promising an amnesty for "prisoners of conscience" and a review of "unjust laws".[16] Although the candidates encouraged people to vote, other activists and political parties called for a boycott.[17]

Conduct

[edit]

On 21 July a group of 11 opposition figures released an open letter denouncing what they called "the authoritarian climate" surrounding the election, adding that it was a "rubber-stamp" exercise.[11]

Overseas voting, covering around 800,000 Algerians, began on 2 September, while mobile polling stations servicing remote areas of Algeria began operating on 4 September.[16] On 7 September, polling opened at 08:00 and was originally supposed to close at 19:00[18] before it was extended by an hour.[19] Domestic turnout was estimated to be at around 48%, while turnout in overseas balloting was at 19.6%.[20]

On 8 September opposition candidate Abdelaali Hassani Cherif's campaign stated they recorded instances of voter fraud and election violations, namely that polling station officials inflated the results, failed to deliver vote-sorting records to the candidates' representatives, and instances of proxy group voting.[21]

Despite being proclaimed the winner, on 9 September Abdelmadjid Tebboune joined Cherif and Aouchiche in criticizing the central election authority when it was revealed the real turnout was only 23.3% instead of the 48% it had reported earlier.[22] Algerian commentators speculated that Tebboune's decision to criticize the election authority after being declared the winner suggested that there was a dispute among Algeria's ruling elite.[7] On 10 September, Cherif and Aouchiche filed an appeal at the Constitutional Court of Algeria challenging the results.[23] On 14 September, the court ruled that Tebboune had won the election but found that his share of the vote was lower than initially announced,[24] winning 84.3% of votes instead of around 95%.[25] A record 15.72% of votes cast were invalid or blank.[citation needed]

Results

[edit]
CandidatePartyVotes%
Abdelmadjid TebbouneIndependent7,976,29184.30
Abdelaali Hassani Cherif [fr]Movement of Society for Peace904,6429.56
Youcef Aouchiche [fr]Socialist Forces Front580,4956.14
Total9,461,428100.00
Valid votes9,461,42884.28
Invalid/blank votes1,764,63715.72
Total votes11,226,065100.00
Registered voters/turnout24,351,55146.10
Source: Algeria Press Service

By province

[edit]
Province Tebboune Hassani Cherif Aouchiche Valid Invalid/
blank 		Total Registered
voters 		Turnout
Votes % Votes % Votes %
Adrar 74,004 89.26 7,179 8.66 1,730 2.09 82,913 19,440 102,353 163,106 62.75
Aïn Defla 166,498 87.92 12,894 6.81 9,991 5.28 189,383 31,880 221,263 488,472 45.30
Aïn Témouchent 99,877 87.59 9,480 8.31 4,676 4.10 114,033 52,193 166,226 320,176 51.92
Algiers 479,272 86.49 42,099 7.60 32,765 5.91 554,136 103,333 657,469 1,904,166 34.53
Annaba 125,760 85.04 14,686 9.93 7,434 5.03 147,880 46,569 194,449 433,097 44.90
Batna 263,315 90.47 18,227 6.26 9,496 3.26 291,038 71,011 362,049 673,168 53.78
Béchar 54,853 83.79 7,294 11.14 3,320 5.07 65,467 24,764 90,231 177,384 50.87
Béjaïa 45,312 53.89 4,108 4.89 34,662 41.22 84,082 19,424 103,506 550,728 18.79
Béni Abbès 8,653 51.35 5,075 30.12 3,124 18.54 16,852 6,254 23,106 39,550 58.42
Biskra 143,620 84.76 18,055 10.66 7,760 4.58 169,435 22,834 192,269 397,864 48.33
Blida 198,230 88.34 17,176 7.65 8,996 4.01 224,402 50,463 274,865 695,379 39.53
Bordj Badji Mokhtar 35,073 89.89 2,085 5.34 1,859 4.76 39,017 605 39,622 41,816 94.75
Bordj Bou Arréridj 154,126 85.76 14,574 8.11 11,023 6.13 179,723 25,928 205,651 463,213 44.40
Bouïra 194,942 77.48 31,143 12.38 25,518 10.14 251,603 28,456 280,059 539,190 51.94
Boumerdès 120,440 76.08 20,851 13.17 17,010 10.75 158,301 20,203 178,504 518,060 34.46
Chlef 211,623 83.67 25,499 10.08 15,797 6.25 252,919 26,232 279,151 721,232 38.70
Constantine 128,875 80.29 19,726 12.29 11,909 7.42 160,510 86,868 247,378 599,529 41.26
Djanet 12,793 87.25 1,168 7.97 702 4.79 14,663 5,956 20,619 33,649 61.28
Djelfa 275,129 84.38 35,459 10.87 15,479 4.75 326,067 32,162 358,229 617,778 57.99
El Bayadh 87,180 84.67 12,464 12.10 3,322 3.23 102,966 14,638 117,604 193,439 60.80
El Menia 16,397 92.17 1,065 5.99 327 1.84 17,789 6,561 24,350 44,744 54.42
El M'Ghair 43,707 90.61 3,851 7.98 676 1.40 48,234 4,883 53,117 98,032 54.18
El Oued 99,631 83.17 14,087 11.76 6,079 5.07 119,797 16,123 135,920 268,619 50.60
El Taref 129,501 84.95 14,808 9.71 8,132 5.33 152,441 36,644 189,085 329,971 57.30
Ghardaïa 70,307 89.74 5,846 7.46 2,194 2.80 78,347 21,141 99,488 201,088 49.47
Guelma 110,952 87.09 11,625 9.12 4,822 3.78 127,399 33,736 161,135 363,597 44.32
Illizi 15,796 60.86 6,023 23.21 4,136 15.94 25,955 13,698 39,653 59,789 66.32
In Guezzam 30,328 90.91 2,312 6.93 722 2.16 33,362 668 34,030 34,945 97.38
In Salah 13,787 58.78 7,118 30.35 2,549 10.87 23,454 5,161 28,615 42,789 66.87
Jijel 144,313 85.47 15,792 9.35 8,732 5.17 168,837 31,787 200,624 438,771 45.72
Khenchela 106,217 90.37 9,481 8.07 1,833 1.56 117,531 13,657 131,188 261,156 50.23
Laghouat 122,067 85.30 14,460 10.10 6,581 4.60 143,108 50,971 194,079 300,386 64.61
Mascara 269,096 85.04 34,428 10.88 12,896 4.08 316,420 39,152 355,572 577,173 61.61
Médéa 184,014 84.83 18,511 8.53 14,391 6.63 216,916 32,612 249,528 553,137 45.11
Mila 153,398 87.78 13,290 7.61 8,065 4.62 174,753 53,281 228,034 501,805 45.44
Mostaganem 205,443 85.61 19,681 8.20 14,853 6.19 239,977 26,734 266,711 491,090 54.31
M'Sila 290,449 87.85 28,699 8.68 11,460 3.47 330,608 28,424 359,032 694,103 51.73
Naâma 66,507 81.21 10,526 12.85 4,862 5.94 81,895 14,734 96,629 176,248 54.83
Oran 503,358 86.78 47,214 8.14 29,470 5.08 580,042 35,993 616,035 1,041,580 59.14
Ouargla 75,676 84.38 9,442 10.53 4,568 5.09 89,686 11,958 101,644 204,251 49.76
Ouled Djellal 33,307 89.28 3,319 8.90 681 1.83 37,307 11,579 48,886 107,922 45.30
Oum El Bouaghi 134,672 88.12 11,522 7.54 6,633 4.34 152,827 50,488 203,315 423,053 48.06
Relizane 140,097 79.79 24,192 13.78 11,291 6.43 175,580 43,259 218,839 438,698 49.88
Saïda 105,541 87.18 10,556 8.72 4,962 4.10 121,059 23,615 144,674 247,100 58.55
Sétif 274,976 81.24 34,351 10.15 29,147 8.61 338,474 77,860 416,334 1,026,936 40.54
Sidi Bel Abbès 148,131 85.58 13,969 8.07 10,992 6.35 173,092 72,337 245,429 470,041 52.21
Skikda 195,677 83.37 22,877 9.75 16,161 6.89 234,715 53,219 287,934 622,552 46.25
Souk Ahras 125,960 90.71 7,846 5.65 5,054 3.64 138,860 14,707 153,567 325,477 47.18
Tamanrasset 37,737 82.56 6,737 14.74 1,233 2.70 45,707 17,318 63,025 111,771 56.39
Tébessa 230,590 85.44 25,096 9.30 14,197 5.26 269,883 21,840 291,723 477,280 61.12
Tiaret 188,260 72.10 44,844 17.17 27,998 10.72 261,102 26,943 288,045 570,766 50.47
Timimoun 28,763 75.98 6,998 18.49 2,094 5.53 37,855 8,328 46,183 76,965 60.01
Tindouf 39,823 73.30 8,110 14.93 6,397 11.77 54,330 24,705 79,035 113,558 69.60
Tipaza 130,397 85.02 14,697 9.58 8,273 5.39 153,367 48,331 201,698 445,342 45.29
Tissemsilt 62,509 84.75 7,966 10.80 3,282 4.45 73,757 18,713 92,470 177,555 52.08
Tizi Ouzou 66,452 59.40 9,394 8.40 36,027 32.20 111,873 16,528 128,401 682,298 18.82
Tlemcen 291,947 86.87 32,997 9.82 11,111 3.31 336,055 44,678 380,733 746,874 50.98
Touggourt 64,329 89.39 6,583 9.15 1,049 1.46 71,961 14,787 86,748 167,603 51.76
Algerian diaspora 146,604 90.67 5,087 3.15 9,992 6.18 161,683 8,271 169,954 865,490 19.64
Total 7,976,291 84.30 904,642 9.56 580,495 6.14 9,461,428 1,764,637 11,226,065 24,351,551 46.10
Source: Official Journal[26]

Aftermath

[edit]

Tebboune was inaugurated for his second term on 17 September.[27]

References

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  1. ^ "Algeria president sets presidential election for Sept 7". Arab News. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Algeria's Tebboune sets 'early' presidential elections for September 7". France 24. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Algerians question president for calling an early election without announcing his own campaign". Associated Press. 5 April 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  4. ^ People's Democratic Republic of Algeria: Election for President IFES
  5. ^ "In its presidential elections, Algeria prepares for 'business as usual'". Al Jazeera. 7 September 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  6. ^ "Who are the candidates in Algeria's presidential elections?". Al Jazeera. 7 September 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Opposition candidates file court appeal questioning Algerian presidential election outcome". ABC News. AP.
  8. ^ "Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announces reelection campaign". Associated Press. 12 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  9. ^ "L'UCP de Zoubida Assoul annonce sa participation à la présidentielle de 2024". radio-m.net (in French). 1 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Algeria's President Tebboune declares his intention to run for a second term". Africanews. 12 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Prominent Algerian opposition figures blast 'authoritarian climate' ahead of presidential election". Associated Press. 23 July 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  12. ^ "Algeria: Key opposition figure quits presidential race". Africanews. 14 July 2024. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  13. ^ "Afrique Présidentielle en Algérie: la justice accuse de corruption trois candidats dont le dossier a été refusé". rfi.fr (in French). 3 August 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Algeria votes amid inflation and boycott, sparking apathy". Africanews. 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Seeking reelection, Algeria's Tebboune touts gains". VOA. 3 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  16. ^ a b "Algerians to vote as incumbent Tebboune poised for easy victory". France 24. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  17. ^ "Algerian President Tebboune declared winner of presidential election for second term". PBS. AP.
  18. ^ "Algeria heads to the polls for presidential elections". France 24. 7 September 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  19. ^ "Polls close in Algeria's presidential contest as Tebboune eyes re-election". Al Jazeera. 8 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  20. ^ "Algeria's 78-year-old president is expected to breeze to a second term in election". Associated Press. 8 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  21. ^ Chikhi, Lamine; Elimam, Ahmed; Lawson, Hugh. "Algerian candidate Hassani Cherif's campaign says it recorded election violations". Reuters. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Algeria's president joins opponents in claiming election irregularities after being named the winner". Associated Press. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  23. ^ "Algerian opposition candidates legally challenge provisional results of presidential polls". Africanews. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  24. ^ "Algerian court certifies Tebboune's landslide reelection win". Associated Press. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  25. ^ "Algeria's Tebboune re-elected with 84% of vote, according to official results". France 24. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  26. ^ Algeria Official Journal. Pages 8;9.
  27. ^ "Algeria's president sworn in for a second term after lopsided election". Associated Press. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
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