Algerian elections face record low turnout as voters lose hope of reform

Anti-establishment protesters have called for a boycott of the vote

An Agerian voter casts his ballot at a polling station in Bouchaoui, on the western outskirts of the capital Algiers, during parliamentary elections on June 12, 2021. AFP

Algerians appear to be staying at home in record numbers, rejecting President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's invitation to vote in the country's early legislative election and lay the ground for a "new Algeria."

Brought forward from 2022 following pressure from the country's mass protest movement, or Hirak, the elections have been pitched to the populace as an opportunity for political renewal.

The regime is so obsessed with repression that it forgets that our country needs a new economic model

However, with many voicing scepticism over the possibility of Algeria's political establishment ever truly reforming itself, voters appear to be heeding the call from protest leaders and staying away.

Algeria’s election authority head Mohamed Chorfi said late on Saturday that the turnout had reached 30.20 per cent – down on the 35.38 per cent turnout in 2017.

Since the legislative elections were announced in February, many of the country's opposition parties have withdrawn from the vote.

The liberal Rally for Culture and Democracy, the leftist Workers Party, and the Socialist Workers Party have all announced a boycott.

Likewise, the country's oldest opposition party, The Socialist Front Forces, while emphasising the political distance between it and the hirak, has shied away from the contest. However, others, such as Jil Jadid, (New Generation) have echoed the government slogan of "You want change, cast your ballot" and fielded candidates.

Speaking of the boycott after casting his own vote, President Tebboune dismissed concerns over the participation rate, telling reporters that parties and voters were free to decline participation, but would need to respect the "popular legitimacy" of those elected.

Voters lose hope 

Chemsou Tamrabet, a 43 year old energy worker from the small town of Meskiana in northeast Algeria said he was boycotting the election, going to the polling station to deliver nothing but a blank paper.

"I think it's gonna be a shock to the traditional parties," he told The National.

With polls opening at 8am, those who do participate must choose from a field of 13,000 candidates vying for the 407 seats in the lower house.

More than half of those candidates are said to be independent, with government grants available to candidates under 40 to subsidise their campaign.

Underscoring the government’s emphasis on renewal has been a ban on candidates who have served two or more terms from running again.

However, a recent BBC report claims that some established parties have sought to game the system, running party candidates as independents.

Candidates who are genuinely independent face an uphill struggle against almost continuous, entrenched rule by the same circle of parties since the country gained independence in 1962.

Thirty-five-year-old Said from Constantine, who didn't want to share his surname, was doubtful about prospects for change.

He and his family were all staying away from a process he slammed as "a masquerade of the regime."

For Said, "the government is a group of fools and incompetents, who don't have the solutions to our problems," he said, which were principally economic, not "renewing idle institutions."

Said’s view is typical of many in the electorate.

Algeria's pro-government parties, principally the Front de Libération Nationale, (FLN) and the Rassemblement National Démocratique, (RND) are expected to be punished by voters due to their historic closeness to the locus of power.

But the main opposition parties have little chance to secure a needed majority.

Fragmented politics 

The Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Mouvement de la Société pour la Paix, (MSP) is likely to be frustrated by a large number of politically Islamist candidates who have fragmented the political scene.

Low turnouts have also become something of a theme in contemporary Algerian politics.

The country has conducted two polls since the ousting of Mr Tebboune's predecessor, Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April 2019, a constitutional referendum granting greater independence to parliament and Mr Tebboune's own election to the presidency.

Both were marked by disappointingly low voter numbers, with ballot counts in the northern region of Kabylie, home to many of the country's principal opposition parties, said to run close to zero.

Kabylie was also witness to several clashes between security forces and demonstrators around Bouira, TSA reported.

Photographs and video posted to social media showed security forces dressed in riot gear deploying tear gas confronting demonstrators TSA claimed were attempting to disrupt the vote.

Despite government promises to the contrary, hopes of reform are undermined by an escalating wave of state repression upon protesters since the hirak resumed in February after a months' long break caused by the global pandemic.

Since resuming, hundreds have been arrested in an increasingly harsh crackdown on a movement the government says has come under the influence of "foreign" elements.

Three prominent journalists were released after spending more than twenty four hours in police custody for their part in the protest movement.

Independent journalist, Khaled Drareni, protest leader Karim Tabbou and director of Radio M, Ihsane El Kadi were all released hours before the polls opened. Many more remain in detention or under threat of prosecution.

Speaking shortly before his arrest on Thursday, Mr Drareni told Franceinfo, "The people of Hirak are against these elections. They consider that they do not represent anything, that they come at the wrong time. These elections are not what Algeria needs."

He continued, "The regime is so obsessed with repression that it forgets that our country needs a new economic model."

Looming economic crash  

Despite energy prices remaining low since 2014, Algeria remains largely reliant on oil and gas exports to support one of the most generous subsidy packages within OPEC.

Its inability to diversify, despite the urging of international bodies such as the IMF and World Bank, as well as the regular charges of corruption at the government owned energy giant, Sonatrech, have come to be seen as emblematic by protesters of a bloated and aged state.

With the country’s foreign reserves dwindling, a further vote marred by low turnout will do little to bolster the fortunes of President Tebboune's beleaguered government. What it will do next remains to be seen.