Explainer: All you need to know about Algeria’s 2024 presidential elections

Algeria is gearing up for crunch presidential elections this weekend, with two candidates challenging the current president Abdelmadjid  Tebboune.

Home to a population of 47 million, and one of Europe's most important energy suppliers, Algeria is a key player in North African politics and the results will have an impact on the region.

Yet the vote comes amid a crackdown on political dissent following the 2019-2021 protests, which saw the overthrow of former dictator Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

When is it?

The main elections will take place on Saturday 7 September, however, Algeria's nomadic populations and those in remote and isolated areas in the southern provinces have been able to vote at mobile polling stations since Monday 2 September, as has Algeria's overseas diaspora.

Campaigning by the candidates ended on Tuesday and a media blackout has been in place since Wednesday.

Originally planned for December, the elections were brought forward due to what Tebboune called "the current international situation and the dangers looming over Algeria".

Who are the candidates?

Current president Abdelmadjid Tebboune is aspiring for a second presidential term and is widely expected to win

Tebboune was elected president in 2019  promising to build "a new Algeria" and he enjoys the support of the army, major trade unions, and some civil society organisations.

Additionally, Algeria's National Liberation Front (FLN) and National Democratic Rally have formed a coalition, calling on the population to vote for the sitting president, along with the centrist, youth-dominated Future Front party, the Voice of the People party, and the National Construction Movement.

During his first term, Tebboune waged war on corruption and made efforts to retrieve stolen Algerian assets, as well as pushing for economic reforms, and striving for wider youth participation in politics, with some success.

However, it has also seen significant inflation and scarcity of staple foods, as well as continuing high unemployment and ongoing crises in housing and water.

The second candidate, Abdelali Hassani Cherif, leader of the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) - an Islamic political party in Algeria aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood - has long been a figure in Algeria's political landscape.

He served as the vice president of the People's National Assembly (the lower house of the Algerian parliament between 2007-2012, and his professional background is in civil engineering.  

He is supported by Islamic parties, such as Ennahda, the Justice and Development Front, as well as elements from the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), and other independent religious figures.

Youcef Aouchiche is the youngest candidate standing for the presidency aged 41. He is Secretary General of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), the oldest of the  Algerian opposition parties, whose support base is concentrated in the predominantly Amazigh Kabylia region in the north.

The FFS is a social democratic and secularist party, that has traditionally enjoyed wide support among the Amazigh population.

However, Aouchiche has managed to increase his support base in other areas during the electoral campaign.

Meanwhile, prominent pro-democracy forces, like the secular Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), the Workers' Party, and the Union for Change and Progress, have not issued a clear endorsement for any candidate.

Algeria's electoral law allows anyone who gets more than 51 percent of the votes to win the seat without the need for a second round.

Why are these elections controversial?

The 2019 elections which brought Tebboune to power were perceived to be the Algerian political establishment's response to the Hirak Movement – the popular uprising in Algeria that erupted in February 2019 and led to the downfall of long-time autocrat Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

However, the elections of 2019 were widely boycotted, resulting in a low turnout (under 40 percent) that has undermined for some the legitimacy of Tebboune's victory.

Moreover, over five years after Tebboune came to power promising to reach out to the pro-democracy protestors of the Hirak movement, Algeria has ramped up its repressive measures against both journalists and activists who criticise the government.

While over 30 candidates had hoped to challenge Tebboune, only Hassani, and Aouchiche were approved.

Meanwhile, the opposition has complained of an atmosphere of intimidation during the election run-up; dozens were arrested last month over alleged election fraud.

Of the disallowed candidates, several were charged with fraud over their candidate paperwork, and three have been placed under judicial supervision.

Algeria's 7th presidential elections

These elections are the seventh in the history of Algeria since political pluralism was introduced in Algeria in the February 1989 constitution, with the first presidential elections held in 1995.

Before 1989, Algeria had a one-party system in which the FLN was the sole legal and ruling political party.

This dates back to the country's independence from France in 1962, before which Algeria had been a French colony for 132 years.

Moreover, Saturday's elections will be the second elections to be held since the rise of the Hirak Movement in 2019.

They are also the first presidential elections to be held since Algeria's 2020 constitutional reforms, adopted in November 2020 following a referendum (which saw record low turnout).

These reforms were widely seen as manoeuvring by the Algerian ruling elite to neutralise the Hirak movement and its demand for democracy and a complete overhaul of the political system – in place since Algerian independence.

These elections will be supervised solely by the Independent Electoral Authority (ANIE) established following Bouteflika's ousting in 2019, before which elections were overseen by Algeria's interior ministry.

Some 24.5 million voters

Out of the population of 47 million, there are 24.5 million eligible voters including 300,000 first-time voters and 900,000 overseas voters.

Abdulwahab Yacoubi, an Algerian living abroad, explained to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister edition, that "the largest proportion of overseas voters, which number over 845,000, are in France - 82 percent of Algerian voters abroad vote in France".

"After that comes Canada, Britain, Germany and Spain, as well as significant blocs of voters in Tunisia, Morocco, and other Arab countries," Yacoubi said.

However, the extent to which the Algerian diaspora community's vote affects the final result remains limited - and the electoral process for the community is perceived to be more about establishing national affiliation than about influencing the result.

This article is based on an article which appeared in our Arabic edition by Othman Lahyani on 02 September 2024, with additional reporting. To read the original article click here.

Agencies contributed to this report.