A vote just for appearances

On September 7, Algerians are called to the polls to validate the choice of shadow decision-makers for a remake of the 2019-2024 episode, with the same main actors: Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the head of the state and General Saïd Chengriha at the head of the army.

By Hichem ABOUD

On Tuesday, September 3, the curtain fell on a dull and unattractive election campaign. Algerians, from all corners of the country, did not feel at all involved in an election with no stakes and no hope of change. The die was cast as soon as the announcement was made to hold an early presidential election on September 7 instead of December 12. Moreover, so far, no one understands why the election date was moved up by three months.

Indeed, last April, there was a significant underground movement led by General Djebbar Mehenna, head of external security, to oust Abdelmadjid Tebboune. The plan was publicly revealed by Colonel Boualem Bennacer, the former Algerian consul in Alicante, Spain. This happened during the trial of Colonel Tarik Amirat, the former head of the Algerian intelligence office in Paris. Called to the stand as a witness on February 11, 2024, in the military court of Blida, Colonel Bennacer surprised everyone by exposing the major outlines of the plot aimed at deposing Tebboune. Stunned, the president of the military court of Blida quickly postponed the session to a later date.

A reaction from President Tebboune was expected after these serious revelations. But nothing happened. The occupant of the presidential palace in El-Mouradia remained silent. He continued to play dead even when the head of the national police, Bencheikh Farid, presented him with a complete file on the plot targeting him and his chief of staff, Boualem Boualem.

Colonel Bennacer and Police Chief Farid Bencheikh would pay the highest price for their loyalty. The former Algerian consul in Alicante was arrested, tortured, and remains imprisoned to this day. His brother Nacer, a police commissioner, joined him in prison for no apparent reason, but not before passing through the torture chambers of the General Directorate of Internal Security.

As for the head of the national police, he was dismissed from his post, spent a few days in the DGSI offices, and was later released for reasons that remain unclear.

In all this, Tebboune emerged victorious without losing a single feather. The plotters also came out unscathed. And the shadow decision-makers’ plan would be executed to the letter.

Candidates selected to compete with the incumbent president were carefully chosen. Two unknowns, without any stature or prominence, were chosen to run a campaign according to given instructions: no criticism of Tebboune, who had been elevated to the status of an untouchable deity. No reference to his record or blatant violations of the law.

As for Tebboune, he presented himself without an electoral program, blatantly violating the electoral law that required him to present a medical certificate of good health and a declaration of assets. He presented nothing. He had the blessing of the shadow decision-makers, and that was more than enough. His huge blunders, which made him the laughingstock of the world, were ignored by a subservient press and equally subservient opponents.

Claiming to have fought against the Bouteflika clan, Tebboune did not see anyone remind him that he was the only minister in independent Algeria to have been awarded the highest honor, the National Order of Merit, granted to him by the late President Bouteflika. Tebboune received this honor for having offered a 1,000-square-meter plot of land in the most upscale neighborhood of Algiers. A true feat achieved by Tebboune, then Minister of Housing. It was almost impossible to find even a square meter in an area filled with the regime’s elites.

No one will come to remind Tebboune of the images showing him crawling on all fours before Bouteflika to greet a zaouia sheikh in Adrar, in the south of the country. And no one will dare remind Tebboune how he was scolded in public and in front of television cameras by former Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal. Such great exploits by the former fighter against the Bouteflika clan!

Among the memorable gaffes of this campaign, we cannot forget the pompous declaration in Oran that “Algeria is the 3rd largest economic power in the world.” Or the one in Constantine when he asked Egypt “to open the borders with Gaza, the Algerian army is ready, and the world will see what we are capable of doing.” Declarations like these, and many others, deserve a place in the Guinness Book of Blunders.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune does not have to worry about what voters might think of him. His second term is assured, and the September 7 election is just a formality. At most, the decision-makers would like to achieve a higher turnout than in 2019, which was barely 36%, including vote rigging. Otherwise, the Algerian regime will continue on its path calmly, come what may.