Presidential candidate Hassani challenges Algeria's election results
3 Min Read
Abdelaali Hassani accuses the Independent Electoral Authority of "confusion and poor management of the electoral process."
-
Algerian candidate Abdelaali Hassani addresses a press conference following the results of the presidential election, in Algiers, on September 9, 2024. (AFP)
Abdelaali Hassani, the leader of the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) and a candidate in Algeria's presidential race, accused the Independent Electoral Authority (ANIE) of committing "fraud" and "rigging" the turnout.
Hassani filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court against ANIE, accusing it of "confusion and poor management of the electoral process" from its inception to the announcement of the results and demanding an end to what he called a "masquerade".
His campaign reported on Sunday violations in the electoral process and said it had documented what it described as "unacceptable administrative practices" by ANIE, including pressuring some voting office supervisors to inflate results, failing to provide vote tally records to candidate representatives, and engaging in collective proxy voting.
Algerian presidential candidates challenge election results
During a press conference in the capital, Algiers, Hassani acknowledged incumbent President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s overwhelming victory—winning nearly 95% of the vote, as reported by ANIE. However, Hassani indicated that he had "lost this battle but not the war."
He was one of two challengers facing Tebboune, the other being Youcef Aouchiche from the Socialist Forces Front (FFS). At a separate press conference, Aouchiche warned that "the country finds itself in a very uncomfortable, even dangerous situation."
He blamed ANIE for what he called "these dangerous deviations that undermine the election" and vowed to file an appeal with the Constitutional Court regarding the preliminary results.
Although over 24 million Algerians were registered to vote this year, ANIE did not release an official overall turnout rate on Sunday. Instead, it disclosed a "provisional average turnout" of 48%, calculated from the averages of different electoral districts rather than the total number of voters relative to registered voters.
This followed an earlier announcement of a 26% average participation rate by 5:00 pm local time, a 7% drop compared to the same point in 2019. The voting period was extended by an additional hour.
When declaring Tebboune’s victory, ANIE reported that he had garnered 5.32 million votes out of a total of 5.63 million, accounting for 94.65% of the vote.
In an unprecedented move, all three campaigns—including Tebboune’s—issued a joint statement on Sunday night, highlighting "irregularities" in ANIE's results. The campaigns expressed their intention to bring public attention to the "vagueness and contradictions in the participation figures."
In response, ANIE stated it was still in the process of receiving official documentation from the electoral districts and would forward them to the Constitutional Court for review.
