Algeria: low attendance at polling stations for legislative elections
An Algerian in a voting booth at a polling station in Algiers during the legislative elections on June 12.
AFP - RYAD KRAMDI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Twenty-four million voters were called to the polls to elect the 407 deputies of the future National People's Assembly.
The polling stations closed their doors at 8 p.m. local time, after an extension of one hour.
One of the issues of the ballot was the turnout.
However, according to the electoral authority, the turnout stood at 14% at 4 p.m.
In the offices of the capital, the crowd was not at the rendezvous this Saturday.
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With our special correspondent in Algiers,
Magali Lagrange
It is the calm which reigned in the offices of the capital visited this Saturday.
Each time, the same scenes: empty offices, piles of ballot papers on the tables, but almost empty ballot boxes with about twenty ballots.
According to the people who ran these offices, the voters who came forward were rather old, but the young people did not come.
On the other hand, the streets of the city center of the capital were animated, the shops open and the people of Algiers strolled with family or friends, also strolled in the squares.
"
For me, there is no vote today, it's a non-event,
" explained some passers-by, who said they did not believe in the change promised by the Algerian authorities.
Even before they were held, these legislative elections, the first since the departure of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, were rejected by part of the opposition and by the Hirak.
In the 2019 presidential election, participation was close to 40% and it stood at only 24% in the referendum on the revision of the constitution last November.
The poll is being held in a context of increased repression, denounced by several human rights organizations for several weeks, which has resulted in arrests and prosecutions against opponents, Hirakists and journalists.
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Algeria: legislative elections, a new stage in the road map of power
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