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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%
Final 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 moved 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]

Final Results by Province

[edit]
Final Election Results by Candidate and Province [26]
Symbol Province Number of Polling Stations Number of Registered Voters Number of Voters Voter Turnout Number of Invalid Ballots Number of Valid Votes Tebboune Hassani Aouchiche
Percentage Votes Percentage Votes Percentage Votes
1 Adrar 536 163,106 102,353 62.75% 19,440 82,913 89.26% 74,004 8.66% 7,179 2.09% 1,730
2 Chlef 1,923 721,232 279,151 38.70% 26,232 252,919 83.67% 211,623 10.08% 25,499 6.25% 15,797
3 Laghouat 770 300,386 194,079 64.61% 50,971 143,108 85.30% 122,067 10.10% 14,460 4.60% 6,581
4 Oum El Bouaghi 1,182 423,053 203,315 48.06% 50,488 152,827 88.12% 134,672 7.54% 11,522 4.34% 6,633
5 Batna 1,944 673,168 362,049 53.78% 71,011 291,038 90.47% 263,315 6.26% 18,227 3.26% 9,496
6 Béjaïa 1,706 550,728 103,506 18.79% 19,424 84,082 53.89% 45,312 4.89% 4,108 41.22% 34,662
7 Biskra 999 397,864 192,269 48.33% 22,834 169,435 84.76% 143,620 10.66% 18,055 4.58% 7,760
8 Béchar 436 177,384 90,231 50.87% 24,764 65,467 83.79% 54,853 11.14% 7,294 5.07% 3,320
9 Blida 1,859 695,379 274,865 39.53% 50,463 224,402 88.34% 198,230 7.65% 17,176 4.01% 8,996
10 Bouïra 1,292 539,190 280,059 51.94% 28,456 251,603 77.48% 194,942 12.38% 31,143 10.14% 25,518
11 Tamanrasset 236 111,771 63,025 56.39% 17,318 45,707 82.56% 37,737 14.74% 6,737 2.70% 1,233
12 Tébessa 1,190 477,280 291,723 61.12% 21,840 269,883 85.44% 230,590 9.30% 25,096 5.26% 14,197
13 Tlemcen 2,019 746,874 380,733 50.98% 44,678 336,055 86.87% 291,947 9.82% 32,997 3.31% 11,111
14 Tiaret 1,541 570,766 288,045 50.47% 26,943 261,102 72.10% 188,260 17.17% 44,844 10.72% 27,998
15 Tizi Ouzou 1,746 682,298 128,401 18.82% 16,528 111,873 59.40% 66,452 8.40% 9,394 32.20% 36,027
16 Algiers 5,342 1,904,166 657,469 34.53% 103,333 554,136 86.49% 479,272 7.60% 42,099 5.91% 32,765
17 Djelfa 1,378 617,778 358,229 57.99% 32,162 326,067 84.38% 275,129 10.87% 35,459 4.75% 15,479
18 Jijel 1,220 438,771 200,624 45.72% 31,787 168,837 85.47% 144,313 9.35% 15,792 5.17% 8,732
19 Sétif 2,409 1,026,936 416,334 40.54% 77,860 338,474 81.24% 274,976 10.15% 34,351 8.61% 29,147
20 Saïda 627 247,100 144,674 58.55% 23,615 121,059 87.18% 105,541 8.72% 10,556 4.10% 4,962
21 Skikda 1,736 622,552 287,934 46.25% 53,219 234,715 83.37% 195,677 9.75% 22,877 6.89% 16,161
22 Sidi Bel Abbès 1,088 470,041 245,429 52.21% 72,337 173,092 85.58% 148,131 8.07% 13,969 6.35% 10,992
23 Annaba 1,062 433,097 194,449 44.90% 46,569 147,880 85.04% 125,760 9.93% 14,686 5.03% 7,434
24 Guelma 1,051 363,597 161,135 44.32% 33,736 127,399 87.09% 110,952 9.12% 11,625 3.78% 4,822
25 Constantine 1,513 599,529 247,378 41.26% 86,868 160,510 80.29% 128,875 12.29% 19,726 7.42% 11,909
26 Médéa 1,603 553,137 249,528 45.11% 32,612 216,916 84.83% 184,014 8.53% 18,511 6.63% 14,391
27 Mostaganem 1,384 491,090 266,711 54.31% 26,734 239,977 85.61% 205,443 8.20% 19,681 6.19% 14,853
28 M'Sila 1,907 694,103 359,032 51.73% 28,424 330,608 87.85% 290,449 8.68% 28,699 3.47% 11,460
29 Mascara 1,553 577,173 355,572 61.61% 39,152 316,420 85.04% 269,096 10.88% 34,428 4.08% 12,896
30 Ouargla 493 204,251 101,644 49.76% 11,958 89,686 84.38% 75,676 10.53% 9,442 5.09% 4,568
31 Oran 2,444 1,041,580 616,035 59.14% 35,993 580,042 86.78% 503,358 8.14% 47,214 5.08% 29,470
32 El Bayadh 508 193,439 117,604 60.80% 14,638 102,966 84.67% 87,180 12.10% 12,464 3.23% 3,322
33 Illizi 131 59,789 39,653 66.32% 13,698 25,955 60.86% 15,796 23.21% 6,023 15.94% 4,136
34 Bordj Bou Arréridj 1,267 463,213 205,651 44.40% 25,928 179,723 85.76% 154,126 8.11% 14,574 6.13% 11,023
35 Boumerdès 1,302 518,060 178,504 34.46% 20,203 158,301 76.08% 120,440 13.17% 20,851 10.75% 17,010
36 El Taref 886 329,971 189,085 57.30% 36,644 152,441 84.95% 129,501 9.71% 14,808 5.33% 8,132
37 Tindouf 211 113,558 79,035 69.60% 24,705 54,330 73.30% 39,823 14.93% 8,110 11.77% 6,397
38 Tissemsilt 522 177,555 92,470 52.08% 18,713 73,757 84.75% 62,509 10.80% 7,966 4.45% 3,282
39 El Oued 679 268,619 135,920 50.60% 16,123 119,797 83.17% 99,631 11.76% 14,087 5.07% 6,079
40 Khenchela 821 261,156 131,188 50.23% 13,657 117,531 90.37% 106,217 8.07% 9,481 1.56% 1,833
41 Souk Ahras 862 325,477 153,567 47.18% 14,707 138,860 90.71% 125,960 5.65% 7,846 3.64% 5,054
42 Tipaza 1,094 445,342 201,698 45.29% 48,331 153,367 85.02% 130,397 9.58% 14,697 5.39% 8,273
43 Mila 1,389 501,805 228,034 45.44% 53,281 174,753 87.78% 153,398 7.61% 13,290 4.62% 8,065
44 Aïn Defla 1,309 488,472 221,263 45.30% 31,880 189,383 87.92% 166,498 6.81% 12,894 5.28% 9,991
45 Naâma 420 176,248 96,629 54.83% 14,734 81,895 81.21% 66,507 12.85% 10,526 5.94% 4,862
46 Aïn Témouchent 767 320,176 166,226 51.92% 52,193 114,033 87.59% 99,877 8.31% 9,480 4.10% 4,676
47 Ghardaïa 585 201,088 99,488 49.47% 21,141 78,347 89.74% 70,307 7.46% 5,846 2.80% 2,194
48 Relizane 1,231 438,698 218,839 49.88% 43,259 175,580 79.79% 140,097 13.78% 24,192 6.43% 11,291
49 Timimoun 280 76,965 46,183 60.01% 8,328 37,855 75.98% 28,763 18.49% 6,998 5.53% 2,094
50 Bordj Badji Mokhtar 88 41,816 39,622 94.75% 605 39,017 89.89% 35,073 5.34% 2,085 4.76% 1,859
51 Ouled Djellal 270 107,922 48,886 45.30% 11,579 37,307 89.28% 33,307 8.90% 3,319 1.83% 681
52 Béni Abbès 117 39,550 23,106 58.42% 6,254 16,852 51.35% 8,653 30.12% 5,075 18.54% 3,124
53 In Salah 103 42,789 28,615 66.87% 5,161 23,454 58.78% 13,787 30.35% 7,118 10.87% 2,549
54 In Guezzam 62 34,945 34,030 97.38% 668 33,362 90.91% 30,328 6.93% 2,312 2.16% 722
55 Touggourt 508 167,603 86,748 51.76% 14,787 71,961 89.39% 64,329 9.15% 6,583 1.46% 1,049
56 Djanet 61 33,649 20,619 61.28% 5,956 14,663 87.25% 12,793 7.97% 1,168 4.79% 702
57 El M'Ghair 238 98,032 53,117 54.18% 4,883 48,234 90.61% 43,707 7.98% 3,851 1.40% 676
58 El Menia 123 44,744 24,350 54.42% 6,561 17,789 92.17% 16,397 5.99% 1,065 1.84% 327
59 National diaspora abroad 439 865,490 169,954 19.64% 8,271 161,683 90.67% 146,604 3.15% 5,087 6.18% 9,992
Total 62,462 24,351,551 11,226,065 46.10% 1,764,637 9,461,428 84.30% 7,976,291 9.56% 904,642 6.14% 580,495
Source: Official Journal of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Issue 63, pages 8, 9.

Final National Results

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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

Aftermath

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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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