Algerian President Tebboune re-elected with 95% votes

Algeria’s incumbent President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has been re-elected with approximately 95 per cent of the vote, the country’s electoral authority ANIE said on Sunday.

ANIE head, Mohamed Charfi, said: “Out of 5,630,000 voters recorded, 5,320,000 voted for the independent candidate Abdelmadjid Tebboune, amounting to 94.65 per cent of the vote."

Tebboune, 78, was heavily favoured to secure a second term in the race against moderate Islamist Abdelaali Hassani, 57, and socialist candidate Youcef Aouchiche, 41.

“The election was marked by broad transparency” and “reflected the electoral maturity of the people”, said Charfi.

But, he did not provide the official turnout rate, which was seen as Tebboune’s major challenge in a vote where his victory was all but certain.

The re-elected president had hoped for a higher turnout than in 2019, the year he was elected amid widely boycotted elections and the Hirak mass pro-democracy protests.

ANIE announced an “average” participation of 26 per cent by 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) — which would have compared to 33 per cent by that time of the day in the 2019 elections.

Hassani’s campaign kicked against the result on Monday in a statement.

He said that ANIE’s provisional turnout was “strange” and denounced attempts to “inflate the results”.

Hassani heads the moderate Islamist party, the Movement of Society for Peace and Aouchiche the centre-left Socialist Forces Front.

AFP