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These elections were supposed to deliver a ‘New Algeria’. So why didn't Algerians vote?
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On Saturday 12 June Algerians went to the polls to vote for a new parliament. This was the first election since President Bouteflika stepped down in 2019, following the mass protests referred to as the Hirak movement.

The election saw significant boycotts from much of the opposition and scepticism among large parts of the population as to the likelihood of any meaningful change. Turnout was the country’s lowest ever, confirmed to be just 23% by the National Independent Electoral Authority (ANIE), which was created in the aftermath of the 2019 protests. The low turnout damages the standing of those elected and far greater efforts will be needed to include Algerians into the political institutions in their country.

More than 20,000 candidates stood for 407 seats, representing 58 electoral regions. Just over 10,400 of these candidates came from 28 political parties, which stood with 646 lists, but an even greater number (12,086) were independents, which stood with an unprecedented 837 lists.

In certain regions polling stations were shut down due to clashes between protesters and the authorities, according to journalists.

The head of the ANIE, Mohamed Chorfi, announced results on Tuesday 15 June and the president of the Constitutional Court Kamel Fenniche confirmed and updated the results a week later on Wednesday 24 June.

The traditional nationalist parties, the National Liberation Front (FLN) and the aligned Democratic National Rally (RND), which have dominated the political scene in Algeria since its independence, took a significant hit. Though the FLN still won overall, it lost 57 seats, going from 155 to 98. Independent candidates, including many young people with no political affiliation, came in second with 84 seats. The moderate Islamist party, the Movement for a Peaceful Society (MSP), increased its voteshare to take third place, followed by the RND.

One significant change is the drop in female deputies from 35% to 8% of parliament, despite women candidates representing half of all those who stood. This may be explained by the highly patriarchal political atmosphere that accompanied the electoral campaign. Equally, officials from the ANIE pointed out to us that the candidate-selection process allowed derogations if gender quotas could not be respected. An informal directive signed by the ANIE asks delegates not to be too strict on the issue of quotas for women, instead, it seems, prioritising new quotas for young candidates.The boycott also clearly influenced the outcome, and highlighted the entrenched lack of trust between the people and political parties.

Youth participation

President Tebboune called for these early parliamentary elections, as part of his roadmap to a “New Algeria”.

To encourage young people to take part, quotas were put in place in the new 2021 electoral law to ensure at least half of candidates on each list were under 40 years old and that at least a third held a university degree.

Grants of around £2,000 were also offered to candidates aged 40 or under, to fund their electoral campaigns. Many older Algerians ironically named this the “parliament of youth employment”.

This has certainly tempted one group of young people, disappointed by the lack of a tangible roadmap from the Hirak, to engage with the elections and to consider how to contribute to the country’s future.

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/these-elections-were-supposed-to-deliver-a-new-algeria-what-went-wrong/