Sat 12 June 2021:
Polls open for first election since longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned but opposition Hirak movement calls for boycott.
Voting started Saturday in Algeria’s first parliamentary elections amid tight safety measures in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
This is the third vote to happen in Africa’s biggest nation since President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in April 2019, after hundreds of thousands of people had taken part in nationwide protests against his bid for a fifth term in office, and demanding an end to corruption and cronyism.
Polling stations opened nationwide at 08:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and will close at 19:00 local time (18:00 GMT).
About 24 million Algerians are eligible to vote to elect 407 members of the People’s National Assembly for a five-year term.
The Hirak movement has been spearheading the anti-government protests calling for fundamental changes to the political system in the country, which was ruled by Bouteflika for 20 years.
It has urged boycotts of all national votes since then. A presidential election 18 months ago, won by Abdelmadjid Tebboune, attracted a turnout of less than 40 percent, even according to official figures.
Last month, the International Crisis Group said Algeria’s situation had “deteriorated”, noting that the authorities had “stepped up repression” against Hirak supporters ahead of the polls, “quashing demonstrations and arresting scores”.
Tebboune’s government claims to have responded to the Hirak’s main demands “in record time” and dismisses them as “counter-revolutionaries” in the pay of “foreign parties” hostile to Algeria.
For the protest movement, Tebboune’s status as a former prime minister under Bouteflika dovetails into its narrative that the old guard remains unashamedly at the helm.
Pro-government parties have urged Algerians to take an active part in what they call a “crucial vote for the country’s stability”, while opponents are denouncing a “sham” election.
Farida Hamidi, a Hirak activist in Paris, said the election meant little to young Algerians dreaming of change.
“We reject it all: the president, the parliament, the constitution, everything done by this military junta which has been ruling Algeria since 1962 – we want something else,” she said.
A total of 22,000 candidates are vying in the race, including 1,080 from 28 political parties and 1208 independents, to win seats in the 407-member parliament.
The vote will witness, for the first time, the adoption of an open list system for selecting candidates under a new election law adopted by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
The open list system allows voters to arrange the candidates within the same list according to his/her preference. On the contrary, the closed list forced voters to choose the list based on the arrangement set by the party.
During a visit to the National Independent Authority of the Elections on Thursday, Tebboune promised that the vote results will be determined by the citizens.
In March, Tebboune issued a decree calling for an early parliamentary elections on June 12, less than a month after dissolving the People’s National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.
