Algeria Political OutlookAlgeria is organizing its third elections since late 2019 with the population continuing to reject the political roadmap of President Tebboune and the military establishment.With most secular parties rejecting and boycotting the elections, the Islamo-conservative parties and a bunch of pro-government independent candidates are expected to pick up most of the parliament seats, therefore providing President Tebboune with the backing he needs to rollout additional policies meant to strengthen the new regime.There is now a strong likelihood that the next Prime Minister will be from an Islamist party, as is the case in Morocco, but with no real power. The legislative elections are not likely to address the needs of the Algerian people and their calls for political reform. As such, we expect the political crisis to remain front and center in Algeria over the coming years. |
Launched more than a week ago, campaigning for the legislative elections scheduled for 12 June in Algeria is in full swing. Political parties and independent candidates have been trying to increase their campaigns of communications in the hope of convincing voters to go to the polls. Algerian TV stations that have been used to convey a sense of normally during election were forced to show almost emptied conference rooms and hallways used for mass campaigning, unable to conceal the reality on the ground. The empty venues are in sharp contrast to what authorities are attempting to convey and that is to present the poll as a historical event known as the “New Algeria.”
Most candidates checked so far show neither grasp of the political and economic challenges facing the country, nor any form of coherence in their speeches and programs. Most have largely failed to mobilize voters. Internet users in Algeria have derided candidates, characterizing their positions and views as bordering ridicule. Several candidates are making themselves known for their anti-women positions. Abdelkader Bengrina, the head of Islamist El-Bina Party, is running on an ultra-populist position of banning schools that teach French, while claiming that his party endorses modernity.
For his part, the head of the FLN party, Baadji Abu El Fadhel, distinguished himself by speaking about the number ‘seven,’ after his party was selected as the seventh organization authorized to run. El Fadhel spoke of “the mystical number seven,” finding even stories in the Quran to get the attention of voters. Other parties and candidates have all attempted more fantastic explanations with the numbers attributed to them by the election authority, as a way to fill an obvious absence of a real program.
