Today, Saturday, Algeria is witnessing local elections to renew the municipal councils and the states (provinces), which constitute an important stage for President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to turn the page on the end of the rule of the late President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and this comes under the pressure of an unprecedented protest movement.

The election campaign, which lasted 3 weeks, was characterized by lukewarmness in the capital as in other regions. Some posters were hung, assemblies were held inside closed halls, and candidates for positions in the councils of 1,541 municipalities and 58 states were not active.

Voting began last Wednesday in remote areas of the largest country in the African continent, the day after the end of the election campaign, as stipulated by law.

115,203 candidates applied for municipal council elections, at a rate of 4 candidates for each seat, while 18,910 people were nominated for councils in the states, or 8 candidates for each seat.

Women represent only 15% of the candidates, according to the statistics of the National Elections Authority.

President Tebboune was elected nearly two years ago (Al Jazeera)

Advertising campaign

The authorities launched a wide publicity campaign across the city's advertising spaces and the media under the slogan "You want change? Sign and complete the institutional building" to urge Algerians to vote.

Political analyst Muhammad Hanad criticizes this slogan, and the "political culture" it carries.

He explained to Agence France-Presse that "this is not an honorable treatment based on the values ​​of citizenship. The stubbornness of the authority has reached a truly satisfactory level, as it has become more persistent in imposing its will despite the dishonorable results recorded in the previous three electoral dates."

This is the third elections to be held during the era of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who pledged to change all constitutional institutions inherited from the 20-year rule of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was prompted by a popular movement that began in February 2019 to resign.

Tebboune was elected in December 2019 with 58% of the vote, with a participation of only 40%.

In a first stage, a referendum on amending the constitution was held in November 2020, which was approved by only 23.7% of voters.

Part of the previous demonstrations of the movement forces (Al-Jazeera)

Share and attribution

On June 12, early legislative elections were held, which witnessed the largest abstention in the history of the Algerian elections, as only 23% of more than 23 million voters were elected.

However, the third polling station is expected to attract a larger number of voters.

Tebboune believed that "the participation rate does not matter" as much as the credibility and integrity of the elections, and their response to the change demanded by the popular movement.

After Bouteflika's resignation, the Algerians continued to demonstrate intensively, rejecting the presence of all symbols of the former president's regime in power, including Tebboune himself.

But with the outbreak of the Corona virus and the expansion of the crackdown targeting the movement, the momentum of the protests declined.

Perhaps the participation of the Kabylie region, which boycotted the presidential elections, then the referendum and the legislative elections, in the local elections, are factors that may raise the voter turnout.

The Socialist Forces Front, the oldest opposition party, decided to present its candidates in this region to defend the majority it owned in the local councils in the states of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia, the two largest cities in the northeastern region.

Liberal candidates, some of whom are former leaders of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (secular liberal), the second largest party in the region, have boycotted all polls since the beginning of the movement.