Two opposition candidates in Algeria’s presidential race have formally challenged the provisional results. Islamist Abdellali Hassani Cherif and socialist Youcef Aouchiche lodged appeals with Algeria’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday, criticising election officials and disputing the vote tally.
The appeals challenge the results that gave incumbent President Abdelmadjid Tebboune a 94.7% win.
The Constitutional Court now has 10 days to rule on the appeals, which could result in a recalculation of vote totals without overturning Tebboune’s victory.
Both candidates had criticised the head of Algeria’s National Independent Electoral Authority, Mohamed Charfi, before filing their appeals.
“ANIE’s handling of the results hasn’t helped President Tebboune. His reelection was expected, but this manipulation was unnecessary,” Cherif criticised the election authority.
He emphasised the need for his supporters’ votes to be accurately counted, adding that while the final outcome wouldn’t change, the historical record should reflect the true numbers.
Aouchiche held a press conference, where his campaign team displayed evidence claiming the results had been tampered with, calling it a “gross distortion.”
“These figures are completely inconsistent with the data shared by ANIE’s regional offices, dragging Algeria back to practices from the 1970s,” He argued.
Both candidates raised concerns about discrepancies between the turnout numbers released earlier and the final vote count.
Even President Tebboune expressed frustration with ANIE’s handling of the process, aligning himself with the public’s dissatisfaction.
In a joint statement, the campaign managers for Tebboune, Aouchiche, and Cherif questioned the accuracy of the results reported by ANIE, noting discrepancies between these results and the regional figures provided by local authorities.
They stated, “We inform national public opinion that inaccuracies, contradictions, ambiguities, and inconsistencies were noted in the figures when the provisional results of the presidential election were announced by the chairman of the National Independent Election Authority.”
This situation represents a significant shift for Algeria, where elections have traditionally been tightly controlled by the ruling elite and military.
ANIE was established in 2019 to replace the Interior Ministry and was meant to ensure election integrity and transparency following pro-democracy protests.
ANIE’s independence was cast into doubt after it announced Tebboune had won with a higher vote share than Vladimir Putin in Russia’s recent election.
Local media speculated that Tebboune’s criticism of the election authority, despite his win, hinted at internal conflict within Algeria’s ruling elite.
Charfi, the election chief, faced backlash, with regional newspaper the *Republican East* calling him a “troublemaker” who had “discredited the election.”
Five years after the “Hirak” movement ousted Tebboune’s predecessor, many Algerians believe little has changed.
Former Communications Minister Abdelaziz Rahabi echoed the movement’s sentiments, saying, “The country has become ungovernable because of its failure to meet the Hirak’s key demands and the suppression of political and media freedoms.”
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