Algerians to vote but little suspense as Tebboune poised for easy victory

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00:00Well, it's the final day before Algeria's election, but there's no sense of suspense.

00:05Incumbent President Abdelmajid Tabun faces no real risk to his rule as he seeks a second

00:10term in office.

00:12One challenge, though, may be to boost turnout after he was elected in 2019 amid a record

00:18abstention rate over 60%.

00:20For more, we can speak to our foreign editor, Philip Turrell.

00:23Hello to you, Philip.

00:24First of all, take us through who the main candidates are.

00:27Right, well, first of all, just to pick up on what you were saying there, it's absolutely

00:31true.

00:3260% abstention rate in 2019, Abdelmajid Tabun was elected with just over 58% of the vote.

00:39I think really this time around, he would like a much more strong turnout, and I think

00:43that is probably the major challenge facing the three candidates.

00:47So who are they?

00:48Well, first of all, the outgoing president, Abdelmajid Tabun, he's the one who's really

00:55earmarked to win a second round.

00:57I'll go into that in a bit more detail in a minute.

01:01But he is president of Algeria since 2019, he's 78 years old.

01:05He's formerly with the FLN, the National Liberation Front, which now is backing him along with

01:10unions.

01:11His campaign slogan is independent.

01:13Now there are two other contenders also in this election.

01:16The first one is Youssef Elchish.

01:18He is the youngest contender, he's 41.

01:21He's a former journalist and a parliamentary attaché.

01:24He's running for the Socialist Forces Front, the FFS, which is the oldest opposition party

01:30in Algeria.

01:31His campaign slogan is a vision for tomorrow.

01:34And the third candidate out of three is Abdel Ali Hassani Sherif.

01:40He's 57.

01:41He is a member of the Movement of a Society for Peace, which is the largest Islamist party

01:46in Algeria.

01:49His campaign slogan is opportunity.

01:52But I think, as I was saying, many people in Algeria feel that this election has already

01:55been sewn up and these are just two token candidates and that it's a foregone conclusion

01:59that after voting takes place this weekend that Abdelmajid Tabouni is going to win a

02:03second term.

02:04What did we hear in terms of campaigning and pledges during the campaign?

02:09Well, there's not much as far as the outgoing president is concerned because he knows he

02:13has the support of the army.

02:14He knows he has the support of the institutions in Algeria.

02:19So he doesn't really need to go out and make this a strong campaign.

02:22He's brought the elections forward.

02:23They were supposed to be held in December.

02:24They're now being held in September.

02:28That is also a factor which may contribute to fewer people taking part in the ballot.

02:33What he does want to do is boost the minimum salary to or the minimum wage that people

02:37are being paid to about 20,000 dinars, which is about the average minimum wage in Algeria

02:43for the unemployed.

02:45Youssef Awosishi wants greater political and media freedom.

02:49That's the same as his rival, Abdelali Hassan Sharif, because they say the government had

02:53been too harsh in clamping down on free and fair information in Algeria and that critical

03:00media has seen its advertising withdrawn, for example.

03:04So they are both in favor of making that a lot more easy for people to obtain free and

03:08fair information.

03:09Youssef Awosishi wants to double the minimum wage.

03:12He wants to introduce a wage for housewives so they get paid for staying at home and also

03:17impose a wealth tax.

03:19As for Abdelali Hassan Sharif, he's really keen in setting up an independent judiciary

03:27for greater judiciary independence in Algeria, once again saying that under the current president

03:33there has been a step backwards in the way that the judiciary has been independent and

03:39free and fair.

03:40And that's something that he wants to reestablish if he's elected president.

03:43Yeah.

03:44You've also been following some of the complaints made by the opposition.

03:47What have they been saying?

03:48Well, there are many complaints from the opposition.

03:50They say that freedom of expression has been rolled back, as I was just saying, that critical

03:55media outlets have lost state advertising.

04:00There are three candidates who are keen to run in this election who have been placed

04:04under judicial investigation.

04:06They're accused of vote buying.

04:08The opposition says, well, this is purely a way of stopping them from running.

04:11This is all trumped up charges.

04:13A reminder that there were 16 candidates who wanted to run in this election.

04:16Only three have been declared as valid, the three that I was just talking about, including

04:21the outgoing president.

04:22So all of these measures that are really making a lot of Algerians think twice about turning

04:29out to vote this weekend, and I think that is the major question here.

04:33How are the Algerians going to vote?

04:35Is there going to be a massive abstention rate?

04:39Will it be the lowest for 20 years as it was in the last elections in June 2021?

04:44We'll have to wait and see.

04:46But I think that whatever the current president is trying to do, there's a luster feeling

04:51that this is a foregone conclusion and whoever people vote for, it's going to be the current

04:55president who has a new term in office.

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