Today, Saturday, Algerian voters go to choose their representatives in parliament from the lists of candidates for parties and independents. These elections are held on the basis of a new voting system.
More than 22,000 candidates are competing for 407 seats in the National People's Assembly (the first chamber of parliament).
These contenders belong to 2,288 lists, including 1,080 party lists and 1,208 independent lists, while the number of women candidates reached 5,744.
On March 12 last, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called for early parliamentary elections after dissolving Parliament at the beginning of the same month, the first to take place since he came to power after popular protests in February 2019 against the regime of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
And last Thursday, Tebboune pledged that the fund would be the arbiter in the elections, while the Independent National Electoral Authority pledged about a week ago to protect the votes.
This election is the third ballot supervised by the Independent Electoral Authority in Algeria, after the presidential elections of December 2019 and the referendum to amend the constitution in November 2020.
new system
The Algerian legislative elections are held on the basis of a new electoral system, as the voter cannot vote for more than one list or vote for a particular list or candidates in another list.
The voter must choose one list, then mark the candidates he chose in proportion to the number of parliamentary seats allocated to his mandate.
Voting offices open their doors at eight in the morning, Algeria time, and close at seven in the evening of the same day, and the voting process can be extended.
More than half a million people work in the conduct of voting, according to the Independent National Electoral Authority.
And the Algerian Ministry of Justice - for its part - announced earlier the tightening of penalties against anyone who obstructs voting operations.