By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Algeria’s constitutional Court on Saturday upheld the re-election of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune for a second term in office, but with 84.30% of the vote and not 95% as the electoral body had claimed after the September 7 polls.
Ruling on the challenge filed by the opposition candidates, president of the court, Omar Belhadj, officially declared Tebboune’s victory, saying, “We announce that Abdelmadjid Tebboune is elected for a second term, and will assume his responsibilities when he swears in.”
Opposition candidates – Abdelaali Hassani of the moderate Islamist party the Movement of Society for Peace, and Youcef Aouchiche of the centre-left Socialist Forces Front, had challenged Tebboune’s victory, alleging irregularities and fraud.
In an unprecedented move, all three campaigns, including Tebboune’s, issued a joint statement expressing concerns about the “vagueness and contradictions in the participation figures” provided by the electoral authority ANIE.
The final results indicated that Hassani received 9.56 percent of total vote cast while Aouchiche secured 6.14 percent.
This is in contrast to the preliminary results announced by ANIE, which had given them 3.17 percent and 2.16 percent, respectively.
The electoral commission officials reported less than six million of the country’s 24 million voters had turned out to vote.
The turnout rates had also reinforced questions on the popularity of the president, just like his first term.
Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area, with almost 45 million total population.
Throughout the campaign, activists and international organizations, including Amnesty International, railed against the campaign season’s repressive atmosphere and the harassment and prosecutions of those involved in opposition parties, media organizations and civil society groups.
