Algerians vote in local elections to seal post-Bouteflika ‘change’ | Election News

Elections are Algeria’s third vote President Abdelmadjid Tebboune promised to reform the state institutions inherited from Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune promised.

Algerians voted in a local election that was seen as key to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s push to return the page to the two-decade rule of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

But even though the campaign officials demanded that the Algerians “leave their mark”, the vote for the municipal and provincial councils on Saturday sparked little public interest.

Elections are the third vote in Algeria under Tebboune, and he has promised to reform Bouteflika’s inherited state institutions, a powerful man who ruled the country for two decades.

Observers predicted low turnout as they had low turnout in the election since Hira ousted Bouteflika from the pro-democracy movement in April 2019.

Analysts Mohamed Hennad are trying to “impose their will on the authorities of the North African country despite the shameful results of previous elections”.

Polls open at 08:00 (07:00 GMT) and close at 19:00. More than 23 million people are eligible to vote with 15,230 candidates and results are expected on Sunday.

Although the campaign was silenced, authorities called on Algerians to participate, “if they want to make changes” and “build institutions.”

Tebboune was elected in a contentious and wide-ranging 2019 vote after Bouteflika resigned as a result of pressure from the army and Hirak.

During the Bouteflika era he pledged to break with widespread local and regional elections mixed with fraudulent claims, died in September at the age of 84.

In a televised interview on Friday, Tebboun, the former prime minister under Bouteflika, called on Algerians to take an active part in the vote.

“If the people want change, it’s time for them to vote for something to do,” he said.

‘Big challenges’

Algerian local assemblies elect two-thirds of the members of the upper house of the national parliament, and the president nominates the rest.

Journalism professor Redouane Boudjemaa of the University of Algiers said the vote was “just an attempt to clean up the facade of local councils by changing their members in favor of the ruling class.”

“The current policy is limited to slogans claiming that the country has entered a new era, while all indicators indicate otherwise.”

Tebboune’s rule has been repressive against journalists and Hirake activists, although it has brought together major political movements to respond to calls for reform by protest movements.

He is also facing a diplomatic crisis with the French colonial authorities in Algeria and is embroiled in a Diplomatic crisis with neighboring Morocco, with which Algiers severed diplomatic relations in August in the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

But in a televised statement on Friday, Tebboun said “these relations must return to normal if the other party [France] it carries them out in equality, without provocation. ‘

Hennad said the elite had been in power ever since Algeria’s independence from France In 1962 they were using slogans about change to impose their agenda without really engaging other political forces.

Tebboun pushed for an amended constitution in November 2020, which was approved by less than 24 percent of voters, and oversaw a parliamentary election in which only 23 percent of voters participated.

Although the Opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) has called for a boycott, party activists are on independent lists and are joining the rival Socialist Forces Front (FFS) in the Kabilia region, which often sees significant abstentions.

Mohamed Charfi, head of the electoral board, emphasized the efforts made by the organization to encourage participation.

But Boudjemaa said the main problem at stake is “major economic and social challenges next year,” and warned that Algerians’ purchasing power could “collapse.”

“Several indicators show the power [ruling elite] it has neither the vision nor the strategy to respond to the crisis, ”he said.