Algeria awaits election result with presidential candidate slams bids to 'inflate results'

Sept. 8, 2024, 2:17 p.m.

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A candidate vying for the presidency in Algeria's election has raised concerns about inconsistencies in the vote count. The results are anticipated to be announced later on Sunday, with President Abdulmadjid Tebboune poised to secure a second term in office.

Saturday's election saw a lackluster response from voters, with preliminary turnout figures standing at 48%. Tebboune faced off against Abdelaali Hassani Cherif, Youcef Aouchiche, and a secularist candidate.

Hassani, a 57-year-old moderate Islamist, has been one of two candidates seeing off Tebboune, the election’s frontrunner seeking a second five-year term.

Advertisement Hassani Cherif's campaign team alleged that polling station officials were subjected to pressure to inflate results. They also pointed to instances where vote-sorting records were not provided to candidates' representatives, along with cases of proxy group voting.

The campaign did not specify whether they believed these irregularities had impacted the outcome. Reuters was unable to immediately reach Tebboune's or Aouchiche's campaign for comment, nor the electoral commission.

With a near-certain win, Tebboune’s main challenge was to increase the voter participation level in Saturday’s election after a historic abstention rate of over 60 percent in 2019, the year he became president.

Over 24 million Algerians were eligible to cast their ballots this year, but the electoral authority ANIE has not disclosed the official voter turnout rate.

Instead, it announced a “provisional average turnout” rate of 48 percent, without giving the total number of voters.

Hassani’s campaign on Sunday said the move was “strange” and denounced “pressure on some polling station officials to inflate the results”, without giving further details.

ANIE is set to announce the official turnout rate later on Sunday, along with the election’s results.

Polls closed late Saturday and vote counting was underway as Algerians awaited an announcement of the results. The country’s election authority at 12:10 a.m. said that vote counting to so far suggested voter turnout was 48% in Algeria and 19.6% for precincts abroad — outpacing the country’s 2019 presidential election, where 39.9% of voters turned out to vote.

Advertisement Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area and, with almost 45 million people, it’s the continent’s second most populous after South Africa to hold presidential elections in 2024 — a year in which more than 50 elections are being held worldwide, encompassing more than half the world’s population.

With inputs from agencies.