Algerians vote in local elections to mark Bouteflika ‘transformation’ Election Issues

The election is the third vote in Algeria led by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune who has promised to change the institutions that took over Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Algerians voted in the by-elections that are seen as crucial in the push for President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to open a ten-year term for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

But despite a campaign to encourage Algerians to “sign up”, voting for town and state councils on Saturday sparked public interest.

The election is Algeria’s third vote in favor of Tebboune, who has pledged to overthrow the federal government that replaced Bouteflika, a powerful man who has ruled the country for 20 years.

Observers have predicted that the demise of the elections will be unprecedented since Bouteflika was ousted by the Hirak pro-democracy protests in April 2019.

Authorities in North Africa are trying to “force their demands even on the disgraceful results of previous elections,” said analyst Mohamed Hennad.

Polling stations open at 8am (07:00 GMT) and close at 7pm. More than 23 million people are eligible to vote while 15,230 candidates are standing and results are expected on Sunday.

The campaign was halted despite Algerian officials calling for action if they “want to change” and “build schools”.

Tebboune was elected in a 2019 voting competition that was severely disrupted by Bouteflika after he was forced to resign by the military and Hirak rallies.

He promised to end local and regional elections that were marred by fraud in the Bouteflika era, who died in September at the age of 84.

In a televised address on Friday, Tebboune, a former prime minister under Bouteflika, called on the Algerian people to vote.

“If people want to change, it’s time to take action by voting,” he said.

‘Big problems’

Algorithms in Algeria elect two-thirds of the members of parliament, and the president nominates the remaining members.

Redouane Boudjemaa, a professor of journalism at the University of Algiers, said voting was simply “an attempt to clean up the image of local councils by changing their membership for the benefit of the governing body”.

“Politics at the moment has the message to announce that the country has entered a new era, when all indications are that they are different.”

The Tebboune regime has seen the turmoil of journalists and Hirak’s freedom fighters, although it has made significant headlines in response to calls from protesters seeking change.

He also faced a diplomatic crisis with the Algerian colonel in France and is facing a crisis diplomatic crisis with neighboring Morocco, when Algiers cut ties in August over tensions in Western Sahara.

But in a televised address on Friday, Tebboune said “the relationship should go back to normal if another party were to. [France] they expect the same, without irritating them. ”

Hennad said the elites have been in power since then Algerian independence from France in 1962 they used the word change to force their goals, without really getting involved in politics.

Tebboune pushed for a new amendment in November 2020, approved by less than 24 percent of the electorate, to oversee parliamentary elections that saw only 23 percent of voters participating.

Although the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) party has announced that it is being ignored, party activists are standing in line for independence, forming a rivalry with the Front of Socialist Forces (FFS) in Kabylie, which often sees a breakthrough.

Electoral Commission leader Mohamed Charfi has highlighted the commission’s efforts to encourage incoming people.

But Boudjemaa said the biggest problem at stake was “a major economic and social crisis in the coming year”, warning that the purchasing power of the Algerian people could “end.”

“Several symptoms indicate pouvoir [ruling elite] they do not have a vision or a solution, ”he said.