On Saturday, the voting process began in the first legislative elections in Algeria since the resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and the amendment of the constitution and the electoral law, according to Algerian media.
A total of 1,483 lists will participate in the legislative elections, including 646 party lists and 837 independent candidates' lists, according to the Algerian News Agency.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had sent a message to the Algerians that the citizen is the decision-maker and the sovereign in the early legislative elections scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday; To choose its representatives in the upcoming National People's Assembly, stressing that the ballot box will be the decisive factor in determining who the people will choose to represent them in Parliament.
He added that the era of quota is over in light of respecting the laws regulating the electoral process in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and the new election law, and thus establishing a new phase in Algeria in implementation of obligations.
Tebboune instructed him to protect the voice of every citizen in order to bypass previous practices that would prejudice the citizen's confidence in his institutions.
President Tebboune stressed that this entitlement is a first opportunity for young people, intellectuals and the financially vulnerable to be representatives of the people, especially in light of the exclusion of corrupt and non-corrupt money from the electoral process, which achieves real representation of the citizen.
President Tebboune directed his speech to the employees of the Independent Electoral Authority, saying, "You are a safety valve for the confidence that the citizen will place in his institutions in the future," noting that he embarked as a first stage in renewing the legislative institution, and soon the municipal and state council elections will follow, which are institutions close to the daily life of the citizen.
As part of the preparations for the voting process, the Algerian General Directorate of Security announced, in a statement, a set of measures to secure the legislative elections. According to Algerian media, the General Directorate of National Security drew up a plan to accompany the course of the June 12 legislative elections, as it was decided to establish a special formation to secure the perimeter of the centers. and voting offices located in the area of jurisdiction of the police services, while ensuring the transportation and security of the ballot boxes.
The directorate explained that it assigned the formation teams the task of facilitating traffic and securing public road users during the electoral event, and the same source added that "measures will be applied to prevent parking and stopping of vehicles, as well as gatherings near the institutions concerned with the process, while ensuring that the procedures of the health protocol related to prevention are respected. from covid 19.
And the voting process began last Wednesday in the early legislative elections in Algeria in mobile offices scattered in remote areas to vote for the nomads in the southern states, 3 days before the official start of voting next Saturday.
According to the Algerian News Agency, the voting began in 34 mobile offices distributed over the various isolated and border areas in the wilayats of Ouargla (6 offices), Tindouf (9 offices), Tamanrasset (3 offices), Illizi (5 offices), Djanet (9 offices) and Ain Ghezzam (two offices), with the aim of Enabling about 33,890 voters registered in the electoral lists to perform their electoral duty in the best conditions.
All the necessary human and logistical means were provided in these mobile offices, accompanied by representatives of the candidates, as well as ensuring health and security coverage, to receive the first voters, while respecting the health protocol to prevent the Corona virus.
Next Saturday, Algeria will witness early legislative elections in which 1,483 lists will compete, including 646 lists representing 28 political parties and 837 independent lists to win the 407 seats in the National People's Assembly (the lower chamber of parliament).
About 24 million voters were invited to choose 407 new deputies to the National People's Assembly (the House of Representatives, the first chamber of parliament) on Saturday for a five-year term.
They have to vote on nearly 1,500 lists - more than half of them for "independent" candidates - or the equivalent of more than 13,000 candidates, and this is the first time that so many independent candidates have come forward against contenders backed by political parties, which have been largely discredited and campaigned. Responsibility for the political crisis that Algeria is going through.
These new candidates, with an ambiguous affiliation, can establish themselves as a new force within the upcoming council, with the support of the authority, in search of new legitimacy in a country in crisis, against the background of social and economic tensions.
The winners of the last legislative elections (2017) - the National Liberation Front and the National Democratic Rally, partners in the presidential coalition that supported former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika - are now discredited.
Until the last moment, pro-government parties and official media urged voters to "participate vigorously in these elections, which are crucial to the stability of the country."
The French-language daily El Watan summarized the election campaign, which began on May 20, as "active in the virtual space", but "it was somewhat shy in the public space."
The election campaign went unhindered but without enthusiasm, and the masses were not mobilized.
Over the past three weeks, candidates have often encountered nearly empty halls, causing authorities to fear a lack of interest from voters on polling day.
The debate and controversy on social media was summarized only around racist statements targeting women candidates and verbal attacks by the head of an Islamist party against the Kabylie region (northeast). The authorities fear a new boycott of voters in Kabylie, where participation was almost zero during the previous election elections in 2019. and 2020.
It is not excluded the recurrence of such a scenario, especially since the Rally for Culture and Democracy and the Socialist Forces Front, the two parties most present in the Kabylie region, will not participate in the polls.
In an interview with the French-speaking government newspaper, Orizon, Minister of Communication and Government Spokesperson Ammar Belhimer demanded that "punishment be imposed in the harshest way on every action aimed at preventing citizens from exercising a fundamental right, which is the electoral act."
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