By RFIPublié on 13-12-2019Modified on 13-12-2019 at 14:18

According to the electoral regulation authority, Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected president in the first round with 58.15% of the vote. The vote on Thursday, December 12 was marked by a record abstention.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune will succeed President Abdelatif Bouteflika. His campaign team claimed victory last night, but several candidates made contradictory statements, claiming to be in the second round. Finally, it is he who wins, in the first round.

At the age of 74, he is a senior career official. Several times wali (prefect) and minister, he was appointed prime minister of the former president in 2017. A position he held just three months before being thanked after making comments about corruption, and attacking oligarchs close to the head of state. He had announced he wanted to tackle the malpractices linked to the close proximity between some business leaders, including Ali Haddad, and the government.

Close to power

His victory is not a surprise even if the election campaign had not brought out a favorite. Today, Abdelmadjid Tebboune is the man who seems to be both the closest to the system and at the same time quite sensitive to the point of view of the army. He is someone who is in the dynamics of the Chief of Staff: tackling corruption in circles close to the Bouteflika family. And that's what part of the electorate seems to have remembered.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune is still a member of the FLN Central Committee, but he ran as an independent candidate. Nevertheless, for the protesters, for the Hirak, who reject this election, he is, like the four other candidates who sought the presidential chair, a child of the system.

He won 4,945,116 votes out of 24 million voters and 58.15% of the vote. He is ahead of Abdelkader Bengrina with 17% of the vote, Alis Benflis 10.55%, Azzedine Mihoubi 7.26% and Abdelaziz Belaïd 6.66%. Note also the number of invalid ballots (Algeria does not count the white ballots): about 1.2 million. More than in 2014.

    On the same subject

    Presidential election in Algeria: less than 40% of voters, a historically low rate

    Presidential election in Algeria: a day of voting marked by abstention

    Presidential elections in Algeria: who are the candidates?

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