Algerians were called to vote on Sunday for or against the revision of the constitution. A project initiated by the president and presented by the government which is supposed to meet Hirak’s hopes. The Algerians massively avoided this choice. According to the Independent National Electoral Authority, turnout was less than 24%.
In a statement issued by the official APS press agency, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune confirmed that the Algerian people would once again be at the meeting with history to establish a new era. A reference to the chosen date for this referendum: November 1 marks the start of the war of independence against the French colonial power in 1954.
But to call from power to vote for a new Algeria, voters respond overwhelmingly by indifference to this referendum. A feeling that already seemed to dominate the election campaign, where opponents of the project were not allowed to hold a meeting.
Hirak’s supporters called for a boycott of the vote. In Kabylia, a region known to be rebellious, local media claim that many polling stations have even been closed. Although the protest movement has been less visible for several months as the weekly marches have been suspended due to coronavirus, their appeal therefore seems to have been heard.
Whatever the outcome, it is undoubtedly the omission that we will retain. Last December for the presidential election, the turnout, just under 40%, was already historically low.
A revision of the constitution that has been very little debated, which was carried out by the same people who had written the previous constitutions that do not convince the majority of the population, in any case those who were on the streets a few years ago. months yet to demand the change. For the regime, it is a way of re-legitimizing itself by claiming that the reasons for demonstration are no longer necessary as a new constitution exists.
Akram Belkaid
.
