President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been named the winner in Algeria’s presidential election, but has joined rivals in questioning the results of the landslide success.
The country’s independent election authority on Sunday announced Mr Tebboune had won 94.7% of Saturday’s vote, outpacing his challengers Islamist Abdelali Hassani Cherif, who received only 3.2% and socialist Youcef Aouchiche, who got just 2.2%.
After both of Mr Tebboune’s opponents questioned the results after they were reported on Sunday, the three campaigns jointly issued a statement accusing the country’s election chairman of announcing results that contradicted earlier turnout figures and local tallies.
In a country where elections have been carefully choreographed, questions about irregularities shocked Algerians who expected Mr Tebboune to win in an uneventful fashion.
It is unclear what will follow all three candidates casting doubt on irregularities and whether they will prompt legal challenges or delay the final certification of the result.
The tally reported on Sunday gave Mr Tebboune a total vote share that was far more than the 87% that Vladimir Putin won in Russia’s March elections.
Efforts from Mr Tebboune and members of his government to encourage voter turnout to project legitimacy appeared to have fallen short, with less than one out of every four voters participating.
Election officials on Sunday reported that 5.6 million of the country’s roughly 24 million voters had turned out to vote. Such high abstention rates, which remain unofficial, would surpass the 2019 presidential election when 39.9% of the electorate participated.
Officials did not explain why they had announced 48% voter turnout at the time of polls closing.
Before the three candidates joined in questioning the discrepancy, both of Mr Tebboune’s challengers raised questions about it, citing their tallies.
Mr Aouchiche called it “strange” while Ahmed Sadok, Mr Cherif’s campaign manager, blasted delays and the way the figure was calculated.
“It’s a shame. It’s an attack on the image of Algeria, which will become the laughing stock of nations,” Mr Sadok said earlier in the day.
He also said there had been a failure to deliver vote-sorting records to the candidates’ representatives and that the party had recorded instances of proxy group voting and pressure put on poll workers to inflate certain figures.
Claims of irregularities cap off an election season that outraged activists and civil society groups. Human rights advocates railed against the campaign season’s repressive atmosphere and the harassment and prosecutions of those involved in opposition parties, media organisations and civil society groups.
Amnesty International last week condemned Algeria’s “brutal crackdown on human rights including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association in the run-up to the country’s presidential elections.”
Before the candidates questioned the results, Mr Tebboune’s supporters and detractors had drawn conclusions from the results.
Pro-Tebboune university professor Abdellaoui Djazouli said on public television that the result was a resounding endorsement of Mr Tebboune’s program.
“The President has more legitimacy to continue his action to better establish his project for the new Algeria,” he said on public television.
But his runaway victory fueled criticism from pro-democracy activists who have long seen elections as tools that the country’s political elites have used to give off an appearance of popular support.
