Tebboune re-elected despite criticism over human rights violations

Abdelmadjid Tebboune has secured his second five-year term, transforming his bureaucratic persona into that of a reassuring leader, despite facing criticism over freedoms and human rights.

Re-elected on Sunday with nearly 95 percent of the vote and a “provisional average turnout” of 48 percent, according to electoral authority ANIE, Tebboune competed against moderate Islamist Abdelaali Hassani, who garnered 3.17 percent, and socialist Youcef Aouchiche, who received 2.16 percent.

Tebboune, 78, initially won the presidency in December 2019 with 58 percent of the vote, even as abstention rates soared above 60 percent amid widespread Hirak pro-democracy protests. These demonstrations, which began in February 2019, led to the ousting of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, demanded substantial political reforms.

Tebboune, who had held various ministerial roles under Bouteflika, tried to ease tensions by pardoning several jailed activists, though he continued to imprison many others and banned the movement’s weekly rallies. He asserts that he embodies the Hirak’s liberating spirit, which he claims freed Algeria from an oppressive past. However, his administration has been marked by a crackdown on dissent, supported by the military.

Analyst Hasni Abidi from the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center described Tebboune’s tenure as reflecting “a democratic deficit”. Amnesty International criticised Algerian authorities for maintaining repression and a zero-tolerance approach to dissent, creating a “climate of fear and censorship”.

Algeria’s president Abdelmadjid Tebboune has won a second five-year term in office after winning 94% of the votes in Saturday’s election. https://t.co/LOg6WSsuUm pic.twitter.com/HqsNguaJgu

— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) September 8, 2024

Tebboune has largely ignored these criticisms, instead highlighting his social and economic achievements and pledging further improvements if re-elected. He often refers to Bouteflika’s last years in power as the “mafia decade”, alleging that a “gang” controlled Algeria’s energy wealth. Key figures from that era, including Bouteflika’s brother Said, have been convicted and imprisoned for corruption during Tebboune’s presidency.

Tebboune’s political career

Tebboune claims to have steered Algeria, Africa’s third-largest economy, back on track, benefiting from rising natural gas prices due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. He has promised free housing, more jobs, a higher minimum wage, and increased social pensions.

Campaigning, he connected with the public by wearing traditional Tuareg clothing in the southern Sahara region and courting the youth vote, promising to create 450,000 jobs and raise monthly unemployment benefits.

In March, Tebboune expressed pride in being called “ammi Tebboune”, considering it a paternal relationship. Running as an independent, he has distanced himself from political parties, which have lost credibility among many Algerians.

His supporters credit him with reviving the presidency, which became largely invisible under Bouteflika after his 2013 stroke. Analyst Abidi noted that the presidency has become a real centre of power under Tebboune. However, critics argue that Tebboune’s rise was backed by the military.

Like Bouteflika, he serves as defence minister and supreme commander of the armed forces, never challenging the military’s political role, which he calls “the backbone of the state”. He frequently appears with chief of staff Said Chengriha at public events.

Involvement in civil war

A graduate of the National School of Administration, Tebboune advanced in the 1980s as a prefect in various provinces, eventually becoming part of the state apparatus that the Hirak protests aimed to reform. He served as minister of local communities under President Chadli Bendjedid in 1991, who was ousted in early 1992 as the Algerian civil war began.

Known as the Black Decade, the war saw the military halt legislative elections after the Islamic Salvation Front won the first round, vowing to establish religious rule. Tebboune disappeared from the political scene during the war, which ended in 2002, but returned when Bouteflika was elected in 1999, briefly serving as communications minister.

He held various other portfolios until 2002, followed by a decade-long hiatus. Tebboune returned in 2012 as housing minister and became prime minister in 2017, although he was dismissed after three months, allegedly confronting oligarchs close to Bouteflika. Many of those oligarchs were later imprisoned for corruption during Tebboune’s presidency.

Tebboune, once a heavy smoker with a thin moustache, quit smoking in 2020 after contracting Covid-19 and spending two months hospitalised in Germany. He returned to Germany in 2021 for foot surgery.