ALGERIA: THE PRESIDENTIAL MASCARADE OF 07/09: Continuation and… The end?
On 08/09/2024, the clan struggle at the top of the military hierarchy has already undermined the credibility of the Algerian presidential election. The turnout announced the day before, 48% of the 24 million registered voters, was ridiculed by the 5,630,000 votes cast, bringing it down to 23%! The next day, in an unprecedented move, all the candidates contesting the election disputed the results in a joint statement published the following day. Yesterday saw a new twist, with the Constitutional Council pulling off a sleight of hand to raise the turnout to almost what had been announced on the night of the election (07/09), i.e. 46%. The number of votes cast rose from five million to 11 million, including almost two million invalid ballots.
Clearly, the figures have been manipulated to please the three plaintiffs.
All these manipulations of the election results show that:
1) Algerian institutions are institutions in name only.
2) the real elections in Algeria do not take place at the ballot box, but at the top of the military hierarchy. And this applies not only to the presidential elections, but also to the legislative elections.
An anecdote told to me during the legislative elections of May 1997 is worth recounting. The RCD negotiated its quota of deputies with General Toufik’s office. Once the matter had been settled, the general exclaimed to his colleagues:”You see, here it’s the democrats who are officially asking us to commit fraud”!
3) In these final results, we gloss over the boycott of these presidential elections in Kabylia, where a 0-point vote was masterfully administered for the 4thᵉ consecutive electoral deadline since 2019.
Kabylia, which is relying on international bodies for its right to self-determination, is making progress despite the ferocious colonial repression it is suffering in the form of reprisals, and the silence of the French media, which prefer not to dare take a look.
Long live free and independent Kabylia.
https://www.france24.com/fr/afrique
Exile, 15/09/2024
Ferhat Mehenni, President of the Mak and Anavad