Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was declared the winner of the country’s latest presidential election, joined his two opponents in raising concerns about election irregularities. The criticism stems from the country’s election body, the National Independent Election Authority (ANIE), announcing results that contradicted earlier turnout figures and local tallies. Election officials had announced a 48% provisional voter turnout rate but by the time the election exercise finished, they reported that only 5.6 million, around 23% of Algeria’s 24 million voters, participated. Tebboune and his challengers, Islamist Abdelali Hassani Cherif and socialist Youcef Aouchiche, jointly issued a statement criticizing the discrepancies. Tebboune, who won the vote by 94.7%, had tried to encourage voter turnout. His efforts appear to have fallen short with the turnout lower even than the country’s 2019 election. According to pro-democracy activists, the low voter turnout is a lesson in democracy to “le pouvoir,” the country’s military-backed elites.
SOURCE: AP NEWS
