Tebune and his two rivals in the presidential elections denounce “inaccuracies” in the electoral results in Algeria

The president has secured a second term after collecting more than 94.6% of the votes in Saturday’s elections

September 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Algerian President Abdelmayid Tebûne has acknowledged “imprecisions” and “inconsistencies” in the official results of the Algerian presidential election, in which he won a second term after collecting more than 94.6 percent of the votes.

The campaign directorates of Tebune and his two rivals at the polls – the Islamist Abdelali Hasani Cherif and the leftist Yucef Auchiche – have published a joint statement in which they speak of “imprecisions, contradictions, ambiguities and inconsistencies” in the figures announced by the National Independent Election Authority (ANIE).

They have pointed to “imprecisions and contradictions in the participation figures” and “contradictions between the figures announced by the president of the body and the minutes of the counting and recount of votes presented by the municipal and provincial electoral commissions,” as reported by the Algerian public television channel.

They also highlighted “the ambiguity of the press release announcing the provisional results of the presidential elections, which did not include most of the essential data in the announcements of results, as is usual on all important national dates.”

The three candidates have also pointed to “inconsistencies in the figures announced for each candidate,” which has led the organization to respond to the criticism and specify that it continues to receive the data from the recount and emphasize that “it will deliver them to the Constitutional Court” once the process has been completed.

ANIE has also stressed that it will “keep the public informed of the results contained in the verbal process, in line with the principle of transparency and to protect the credibility of the electoral operation, which has been carried out under the best conditions,” according to a statement on its Facebook account.

ANIE president Mohamed Charfi announced Tebune’s victory late on Sunday, with 94.65 percent of the votes cast. Behind him were Cherif, leader of the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, with 3.17 percent of the votes, and Auchiche, candidate of the Front of Socialist Forces (FFS), with 2.16 percent.

Tebune, 78, took office after elections in 2019, which ended a brief transition period after long-time leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in April amid massive protests against his plans to run for a fifth term despite being barred from office due to health problems.

The president, who has the support of the Army and the coalition made up of the historic National Liberation Front (FLN) and the National Democratic Group, was seeking a second term amid complaints about repression against opponents and activists and growing skepticism among the population about the country’s management.

Indeed, Amnesty International recently accused the authorities of limiting freedoms in the country. Amjad Yamin, the NGO’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, denounced that the country has suffered in recent years a “continued erosion of human rights” through the dissolution of parties, civil organisations and independent media, as well as the increase in “arbitrary arrests and prosecutions using false charges of terrorism”.