After nearly ten months of massive and unprecedented popular protest, Algerians are called to the polls on Thursday (December 12th) to elect a successor to Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in a presidential election perceived as a survival tactic of the regime.
Polling stations must open at 8 am local time (7 am GMT) and close at 7 pm (6 pm GMT), at which time no figures should be available. In previous polls, the turnout was reported late in the evening and the results announced the next day. Depending on the result, a second round could take place in the coming weeks.
Admittedly, for the first time in twenty years, the name of Abdelaziz Bouteflika will not be on the ballot, but the "Hirak" movement antiregime born February 22, remains firmly opposed to this election that the power, the hands of the army, wants to organize whatever the cost. And this, while the five candidates (Abdelaziz Belaid, Ali Benflis, Abdelkader Bengrina, Azzedine Mihoubi and Abdelmajid Tebboune) are all perceived by the protest as children of the "system".
The movement denounces an "electoral masquerade", demands more than ever the end of this "system" in power since independence in 1962 and the departure of all those who supported or took part in the 20 years of presidency of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, forced to resign in April.
On December 6, the last weekly protest before the election gathered a huge crowd, showing the extent of rejection. And, within 24 hours of the poll, thousands of protesters on Wednesday again showed their determination in Algiers shouting "No vote!" They forced an important police device that could only disperse them by charging violently.
Call for calm launched by personalities close to "Hirak"
In the absence of polls in Algeria, it is difficult to predict how much of the 24 million voters will vote, in a country where participation is already traditionally low. But most observers expect massive abstention.
The polling stations of the Algerian consulates abroad, where the polls began on Saturday, gave an indication: almost empty offices, in front of which protesters conspired the few citizens who came to vote.
On Wednesday, personalities close to "Hirak", including lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi or academics Nacer Djabi and Louisa Dris-Ait Hammadouche, have warned of the context of "strong tensions" in which the polls will take place, launching a call for calm .
In a text, they called on the authorities "to renounce provocative speeches, to use the language of threat and to stop accusing every citizen of opinion that is contrary to that of power". They made the latter "responsible for any possible slippage in the coming days".
These personalities also urged the protesters to "remain peaceful" by refusing to "respond to provocations" and by ensuring "not to prevent the exercise by other citizens of their right to express themselves freely".
Candidates accused of endorsing the "system"
The election campaign was complicated for the five candidates, who were regularly heckled by hostile protesters and struggled to fill the halls.
The "Hirak" accuses them of endorsing the "system" by introducing themselves, and denounces their past within the Bouteflika apparatus. All supported this presidency, or even participated in it: MM. Tebboune and Benflis were Prime Ministers and Minister Mihoubi.
"How to trust those who have betrayed the country and helped Bouteflika?", Wednesday, a protest in Algiers.
Pillar of the regime, historically accustomed to the backstage, the high command of the army has openly assumed power since the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
After an initial failed election attempt in July, he persistently wants to quickly elect a successor to get out of the current political and institutional crisis, which has aggravated an already complicated economic situation.
General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, chief of staff and public face of this high command, "does not want to be held responsible for the increasingly negative economic prospects," said Anthony Skinner, Middle East and North Africa director of the risk analysis company Verisk Maplecroft.
He "far prefers to have an elected president who will find himself directly in the line of fire (of the contestation) and will have the unenviable task of reforming the economy" of the largest country on the African continent, with more than 40 million 'inhabitants,' he said.
The lack of legitimacy of the future president, who will officially take over from Acting Head of State Abdelkader Bensalah, is already given for sure by the observers. They provide for a continuation of the challenge.
With AFP
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