The Independent National Electoral Authority in Algeria announced that the turnout in the legislative elections reached 30.2% at the country level, at a time when the counting of votes continued after all polls were closed.
The head of the Independent National Electoral Authority, Muhammad Sharafi, said that the elections took place in good conditions, except for some lapses that do not affect their integrity, adding that the vote counting process requires a large time, up to 4 days, due to the complexity of the electoral process due to the multiplicity of lists compared to the previous elections. Read also More than 15,000 candidates are competing in it.. What is the influence of the tribe in deciding the parliamentary elections in Algeria? Why do Algeria’s liberals boycott the parliamentary elections and what impact do they have on participation?
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Sharafi had announced earlier the extension of voting in various centers for an additional hour, and indicated that the general percentage of voting in the elections had reached, by four o’clock local time, about 14.5%.
Al-Jazeera correspondents indicated that the turnout for voting was uneven among the states in the early hours, as the percentage in some states reached 17%, while it did not exceed 1% in other states; But there is no broad participation.
Polling stations in Algeria and the diaspora opened on Saturday morning to 24 million Algerians who are entitled to vote in the early legislative elections, which are being held to select 407 representatives in the People’s National Assembly, or what is known as the First Chamber.
More than 22,000 candidates belonging to 2,288 lists are competing in these elections, of which 1,080 are party lists, and 1,208 are independent lists, while the number of female candidates is 5,744.
Tabun’s statements
The Algerian president cast his vote at a polling station in the Bouchaoui area in the western suburbs of Algiers, and Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad, members of the government, leaders of political parties and Chief of Staff Major General Said Chanegriha cast their votes in different polling stations.
In statements to reporters – after casting his vote – Tebboune said that he was optimistic about achieving a good participation rate based on what he witnessed of the voting process in a number of states.
Tebboune considered this vote as another building block on the path to establishing democracy, pointing to the turnout of youth and women.
He stressed that the percentage of participation does not matter to him, and said that what matters to him are those who will be selected by the ballot box to administer the legislative authority, noting that the formation of the next government will depend on whether the majority is loyal or opposed to the policies of the President of the Republic.
He added that those who boycotted the elections are free to do so; But they have no right to impose their position on others, stressing that these elections are a second building block for change and building a democratic Algeria.
He said that Algeria is on the right path as long as it faces an attack from parties that do not satisfy it to enter the country into democracy from its wide doors, and give its decision to its people, as he put it.
In this context, the Speaker of the Algerian National Assembly (the second chamber of Parliament), Saleh Goujil, said that these elections are an implementation of the demands of the popular movement.
Gogel added – in press statements after casting his vote in the capital – that President Tebboune fulfilled his promises to go towards electing new institutions.
And last Thursday, Tebboune pledged that the fund would be the decisive factor in the elections, while the Independent National Electoral Authority pledged – about a week ago – to protect the votes.
Last March, the Algerian president called for early legislative elections after dissolving Parliament at the beginning of the same month, to be the first legislative elections since the start of the popular movement, which led to the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the spring of 2019.
Participation rate
Al-Jazeera correspondent, Atef Qadadra, said that the voting took place normally in the 58 states in Algeria.
He added that the Ministry of Interior imposed strict security measures starting last night, pointing to an amendment to the Penal Code to address the so-called attempts to disrupt the electoral process, whether by preventing individuals from casting their votes, or sabotaging polling stations.
The presidential elections in 2019 and the constitutional referendum in 2020 witnessed unprecedented abstentions of 60% and 76%, respectively, according to Agence France-Presse.
This election is the third vote supervised by the Independent Electoral Authority in Algeria, after the presidential elections of December 2019 and the referendum to amend the constitution in November 2020.