Nothing seems to convince the Algerian voters to go vote Thursday, December 12. Neither the repeated calls of the chief of staff Ahmed Gaïd Salah to go to the polls, nor the clips of campaign which pass in loop on the public televisions Algerian. "They will organize the presidential election on Thursday and proclaim a winner in stride, the Algerian demonstrators will go down the street on the 12th and 13th, the 14th and the following days," said Nadia Salem, member of the Free Algeria collective, in an interview with France 24. "These elections will not change anything since they have no legitimacy for the Hirak."
The Hirak - protest movement that beats the pavement every week in the country's major cities since February 22 and has dropped President Abdelaziz Bouteflika - is not opposed to the idea of a democratic project. "We are not against the idea of a presidential election, we are against this election.This election is a sword in the water," summarizes Nadia Salem.
Brahim Oumansour, geopolitologist and specialist in the Middle East at Iris, goes further. "The peaceful protest movement may harden after the appointment of the new president, says the researcher at France 24. It can be expected that the demands become more pressing and that strikes multiply."
"The five candidates were all co-opted by Gaid Salah"
After the double postponement of the presidential elections of April 18 and July 4, Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaïd Salah has opposed any form of transition, imposing an election involving five candidates to be dubbed by the army. "These candidates were all co-opted by Gaid Salah, assaulted the Algerian Nadia Salem, they all supported President Bouteflika or took part in his presidency.How do you expect that once elected, the new president will enjoy any legitimacy when the Algerian people demand the end of the old system? "
To date, the only certainty seems to be the high abstention in this election, as the vote is increasingly likened to an unpatriotic act. "Traditionally, there has always been a low voter turnout in Algeria, but the massive rejection of this election may lead to a particularly low turnout," says the researcher Iris.
"Whatever the turnout, we already know that Gaid Salah will announce false participation figures to crown the ballot," says the activist. It is sufficient, according to her, to go to the different Algerian consulates, which opened their doors since December 7 in France, to be convinced. "Only a few elderly people have traveled to do their job as a citizen," said the activist in front of the consulate of the 11th district of Paris, others voted because they were afraid of not being able to return to the country if they did not did not do it, as some agents of power have made it heard in a low voice. "
Voting has become an unpatriotic act
It must be said that Gaïd Salah plays big on this election. And it is not sure that the heavy sentences pronounced Tuesday, December 10 against two former Algerian Prime Ministers accused of corruption during the Bouteflika era are enough to reverse the trend. "Although the Algerians have been pleased with the outcome of this trial, it does not give the staff a new credibility, and it may even be counterproductive because these convictions prove Hirak right."
The Algerians of Hirak still have hope. "We do not just walk down the street," concludes Nadia Salem, "In the shadows, working groups are organizing and preparing the rest."
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