When Algerians voted to elect their new president on Sept. 7, few anticipated the outcomes to be something aside from a foregone conclusion. Unsurprisingly, the next day, the nation’s electoral fee—identified by its French acronym, ANIE—reported that the incumbent, 78-year-old President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, had gained reelection, with preliminary figures pointing to him securing over 94 p.c of the vote.
His rivals, Abdelali Hassan Cherif of the Motion of Society and Peace—an Islamist occasion—and Youcef Auchiche of the Socialist Forces Entrance, reportedly secured simply over 3 p.c and a couple of p.c of the vote, respectively.
As quickly because the election outcomes have been introduced, nonetheless, their credibility was shot to items. Mohamed Charfi, the top of Algeria’s election watchdog, stated on Sept. 7 that the extent of “provisional common turnout” surpassed 48 p.c. However a day later, extra data revealed important incongruencies that will put the turnout stage at 25 p.c at finest, main not simply Cherif and Auchiche to problem the validity of the ANIE’s tallies, but in addition Tebboune.