Algeria’s incumbent President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been re-elected with nearly 95% of the vote, according to the country’s electoral office, ANIE.
“Out of the 5,630,000 voters recorded, 5,320,000 voted for the independent candidate Abdelmadjid Tebboune, accounting for 94.65 percent of the vote,” ANIE chairman Mohamed Charfi told reporters in Algiers on Sunday.
Tebboune was widely predicted to win a second term against moderate Abdelaali Hassani and communist Youcef Aouchiche.
“The election was marked by broad transparency” and also “reflected the electoral maturity of the people”, disclosed Charfi.
However, he did not offer the official turnout rate, which was viewed as Tebboune’s main hurdle in a vote where his win was almost guaranteed.
The re-elected president had hoped for a larger turnout than in 2019, when he was elected amid widespread boycotts of elections and massive pro-democracy rallies in Hirak.
Tebboune was elected at the time despite a record abstention rate of more than 60%. In the early hours of the day, ANIE declared a “average turnout” percentage of 48 percent, describing it as “provisional,” but did not provide a breakdown of the number of voters versus those initially enrolled.
The statement came three hours late, after the authority said on Saturday evening that voting would be extended by one hour in anticipation of more voters turning up.
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