Algeria’s President Sworn in for a Second Term After Lopsided Election

9:33 PM EDT, September 17, 2024

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was sworn in on Tuesday for a second term after being elected in a landslide vote marred by apathy and questions around the vote count.

The ceremony to inaugurate Tebboune’s second five-year term took place at the People’s Palace, in Club-des-Pins, a seaside resort on the west coast of the capital, Algiers. Tebboune’s two challengers, Islamist Abdellali Hassan Cherif and Socialist Youcef Aouchiche attended the ceremony that came three days after Algeria’s constitutional court certified Tebboune’s landslide victory in the Sept. 7 elections.

The court announced on Saturday after a recounting of the vote that Tebboune and his two opponents had called into question.

The figures showed Tebboune leading Cherif who had run with the Movement of Society for Peace by around 75 percentage points. Cherif won nearly 950,000 votes, or roughly 9.6%. Aouchiche’s Socialist Forces Front won more than 580,000 votes, about 6.1%.

With 7.7 million votes, the incumbent won 84.3% of the vote, surpassing his 2019 win by millions of votes and a double-digit margin.

Cherif and Aouchiche were criticized for participating in an election that government critics denounced as a way for Algeria’s political elite to make a show of democracy amid broader political repression.

Throughout the campaign, each of the three candidates emphasized participation, calling on voters and youth to participate and defy calls to boycott the ballot.

The nationwide turnout was 46.1%, surpassing the 2019 presidential election when 39.9% of the electorate participated, according to the court’s figures.