CIVICUS discusses Algeria’s recent presidential election with a member of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in North Africa (CIDH), a regional human rights organisation based in Morocco. The interviewee requested to stay anonymous for security reasons.
Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune won the 7 September election with a staggering 94.65 per cent of the vote, but on a very low turnout. Little competition was allowed, with the election date moved to make it harder for opponents to stand and campaign. Algeria’s political elite and powerful military have clamped down on the protest energy that brought Tebboune to power in 2019. Many activists, journalists and opposition politicians have been jailed, and civil society organisations and independent media have been shut down. The government gets away with this thanks to its low international profile and Europe’s willingness to say nothing as long as Algeria supplies the gas it needs.
