Twenty-four million voters were called to the polls to elect 407 deputies for the future National Assembly. Polling stations closed their doors at 8 pm local time after an hour’s extension. One of the issues in the vote was turnout. According to the election authority, however, the turnout was 14% at 4 pm. At the capital’s office, the audience was not at the meeting last Saturday.
With our special correspondent in Algiers, Magali Lagrange
It is the calm that reigned in the capital’s office that visited this Saturday. Each time the same scenes: empty offices, piles of ballot boxes on the tables, but almost empty ballot boxes with about twenty ballot boxes. According to the people who ran these offices, the voters who came forward were quite old, but the young people did not come.
On the other hand, the streets of the city center were animated, the shops opened and the people of Algiers walked with family or friends, also walked the squares. “For me, there is no vote today, it is a non-event,” said some passers-by, who said they did not believe in the change promised by the Algerian authorities.
Even before they were held, these legislative elections, the first since the resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, were rejected by part of the opposition and by Hirak. In the 2019 presidential election, turnout was close to 40% and it was only 24% in the referendum on the revision of the constitution in November last year.
The measurement is being held in the context of increased repression, which several human rights organizations have condemned for several weeks, which has resulted in arrests and prosecutions of opponents, Hirakists and journalists.
►Algeria: the legislative election, a new step in the roadmap of power
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