Abdelmadjid Tebboune's sham election guarantees Algeria's democratic decline

The worst-kept secret in Algerian politics is out. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Algeria's entrenched President, has officially announced his candidacy for a second presidential term in the upcoming September 7 election.

Everything had been carefully planned.

Tebboune had already moved the election from December to September and lobbied for the support of various political parties — including the pro-government National Liberation Front, the Democratic National Rally, the Future Movement, and the National Construction Movement — to bolster his floundering image. 

Tebboune's visit to Tizi-Ouzou in Kabliya — the epicentre of anti-government sentiment — hours before announcing his candidacy was clearly premeditated too.

Remember, Kabliya province abstained from voting in the 2019 presidential election; Tebboune needs this charm offensive to stick if he wants to placate his increasingly disillusioned populace.

For those unfamiliar with the hidden forces behind Algerian politics, Abdelmadjid Tebboune's candidacy ultimately relies on the indecision of Algeria's real decision-makers: the top brass of the military. 

It was widely known that they were unable to reach an agreement on Tebboune's candidacy for a second term, a revelation that cost journalist El-Kadi Ihsane a five-year prison sentence, a heavy fine, and the closing of his media company.

Yet with Tebboune now selected as the military-backed candidate and thus de facto winner, it's clear that the order of the day is more of the same. Abdelmadjid Tebboune's premiership has been characterised by the same sort of corruption, nepotism, and cronyism that plagued Algeria during Abdelaziz Bouteflika's nearly 20 years in power. 

Tebboune promised Algerians a new dawn after emerging victorious in the post-Hirak movement election in December 2019. But as an apparatchik of the regime and former Prime Minister under Bouteflika, Tebboune's victory was designed to uphold the old regime's grip over the country. 

And tighten his grip he did. Despite the Hirak movement, which demanded democracy, political change, and reform, persisting in the first few months of his presidency, Tebboune quickly weaponised the COVID-19 pandemic in true authoritarian fashion. He banned Hirak protests and stepped up arbitrary arrests of activists and reporters. Hundreds remain incarcerated on trumped-up charges, with NGOs constantly denouncing Tebboune's repression of dissent and human rights abuses. 

Algeria's authoritarian descent

Now Abdelmadjid Tebboune awaits his second coronation.

Thirty-five candidates have expressed their interest in running in the upcoming election, with Youcef Aouchiche from the FFS (Socialist Forces Front) and Abdel-Ali Hassani Cherif from the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot MSP planning to challenge Tebboune on September 7. However, each of them is running solely to boost their ego. They are simply cannon fodder.

Some candidates have already come to this realisation. Louise Hanoune, a veteran of the Algerian opposition, announced that she would be dropping out of the presidential race two days after Tebboune announced his candidacy.

In a statement, she said that Algerian authorities have continued to wage an unsettling campaign of repression and that "the legal framework has been skewed to prevent opponents of Tebboune from running."

Louise Hanoune leaves behind only two female candidates: the mogul Said Neghza and attorney Zoubida Assoul. However, both are considered dummy candidates due to their close ties to the regime.

Amid this sham election, there is also widespread social and political unrest, a sharp increase in youth unemployment, and a sluggish economy. This is happening despite the substantial rise in oil and gas revenue due to the conflict in Ukraine.

This sordid situation in Algeria has triggered a massive outflow of Harraga — unauthorised migrants — who desperately set out for the northern shores of the Mediterranean.

Just last month, Spanish authorities confirmed that around 1100 Algerian men, women, and children — including the elderly — reached Almeria and Algeciras during the two-day celebration of Ashura. 

Algerians are fed up. There is widespread apathy in Algerian public affairs, symptomatic of a deep-rooted rejection of the political system, so much so that many opposition leaders, such as Othmane Mazouz of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) have called for a boycott of the election. 

In an open letter published in late July, a group of 11 opposition figures — including well-known politicians, lawyers, and academics — denounced what they called “the authoritarian climate” surrounding the September presidential election, adding that it's a “rubber-stamp exercise in futility."

Everybody knows that a second term of office for Tebboune is already secured and the September election is only a facade.

And it goes without saying that Mr Tebboune's reelection for a second term in office will indubitably bolster the supremacy of Algeria’s political and military powers that be, and further distance the 46 million-strong nation from the aspirations spelt out by the Hirak movement.

Dr. Abdelkader Cheref is a former Fulbright scholar, and currently a Professor of Africana Studies at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He holds a PhD from the University of Exeter, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. His research interests are primarily politics in the MENA region, Afro-Arab relations, Human Rights, and democratization.

Follow him on Twitter: @Abdel_Cheref