Abdel-Hakim Hadaqa - Algeria
After three weeks, the period specified for the presidential election campaigns ended in Algeria on Sunday, amid expectations for a high rate of popular boycott of the vote due next Thursday to choose a new president for the country.
The Algerian legislature does not require a minimum or higher for the voters to accept the results of the vote. According to official figures, the last presidential elections in 2014 witnessed the participation of 51.07% of the voters, in which Abdelaziz Bouteflika won a fourth round with 81.53%.
The weakest turnout was in the legislative elections held on the fourth of May 2017, in which 37.09% of the voters participated, and it was the objection of the partisan class, where the authority was accused of inflating it, to give political credibility to the elections.
Regarding the presidential elections scheduled for next Thursday, Mohamed Sharafi, President of the Independent National Elections Authority, said, "The electoral reservoir reached 24,474,161 voters, of whom 914,308 registered at the level of diplomatic and consular centers abroad. The last periodic review of the lists witnessed the registration of 289,643 voters." New. "
Four party heads participate as candidates in the presidential race, in addition to an independent candidate, and most of them are supported by smaller parties, one of whom is supported by the former loyalists.
On the other hand, a wide range of political formations - led by Islamists and secularists - announced the boycott of the upcoming elections, as the Peace Society movement decided not to recommend any candidate or elect him, leaving the option before its militants to vote with a white paper.
The Justice and Development Front also announced its final boycott of the presidencies, as was the "Democratic Alternative Bloc" that includes the Labor Party, the Socialist Forces Front, the Rally for Culture and Democracy, and the New Generation Party.
The positions of the coordination movements and the interactions of the various social media sites reflect a high degree of societal division over the electoral process in general.
The election process was launched yesterday, Saturday, amidst protest protests organized by anti-government activists in front of the Algerian consulates, especially in Paris, where it slipped into violent incidents and Tlasan.
| Bouteflika casts his vote in the last presidential elections in 2014 (Al-Jazeera - Archive) |
In his analysis of the scene, a professor of political sociology at the University of Constantine Boubekeur Gemli said that the Algerian reality is witnessing a kind of contradiction, between great boiling in the political street and great coldness in the electoral campaign.
He explained that the electoral behavior of Algerians seems uneasy, as the individual becomes in some cases with the candidate Doe and then he goes against him due to the shrinking distance and the distinctions that exist between the five candidates.
"It is not easy to identify the electoral preferences of Algerians in this circumstance, because many of them resort to concealment and conceal their position, because of the attraction that has occurred between the movement that pushed towards restructuring the political street and the deep state," Gemeli said.
It is believed that the elections will be demarcated with the minimum level of popular participation, and this is due to the low degree of motivation among citizens to participate in the vote as a result of doubting the seriousness and integrity of the elections, as well as the weak feasibility of the elections scheduled for December 12, and the limited role in achieving the democratic transition.
Therefore, the trend that encourages participation does not focus on marketing presidential candidates and promoting their programs as much as it promotes the dangers posed by the continuity of the president’s vacancy, trying to make it a motive towards voting for the least bad among the candidates.
Jimely pointed out that the movement had contributed to the emergence of a new division of the electoral map, and prompted the opposition parties to take decisions that he described as "mercury", against the background of the extension of the division in the position of participation to the one-party house, where those decisions came to reduce potential rebellions within their bases, The date was exceeded with minimal damage.
| Qala: A large part of the people will participate and the upcoming elections will carry several surprises (Al-Jazeera) |
Estimates
On the other hand, Salim Kellala, a professor of political science at the University of Algeria, considered that most countries in the world are witnessing a decrease in the percentage of electoral participation.
He explained the issue of the limits of political practice in light of the norms recognized in the democratic system, referring to Tunisia as a model close to Algeria, where the participation rate during the last first round did not exceed 43%.
He continued, "Therefore, talking about popular participation or not in the upcoming Algerian elections should be measured according to this data. Secondly, we must take into consideration the circumstance the country is going through today, and the attempt of several parties to make the elections one of the tools of pressure rather than a means to build a system New politician. "
And His Excellency estimated in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that the upcoming elections will express the extent of the people's conviction that the elections are the shortest way to overcome the current crisis or not.
He explained that despite what appears at first glance that no one will participate in these elections, he expects that the participation of youth groups will be weak, especially in cities, and that the groups accustomed to participation from the activists of the parties supporting the candidates - regardless of their groups - and part of the other popular segments, they will not Feel free to vote, which will make the upcoming elections bear many surprises.