Algeria: FLN proclaimed winner of legislative elections

Published on : 06/24/2021 – 10:13

The National Liberation Front (FLN) won the legislative elections of June 12 in Algeria, according to official results announced on Wednesday June 23 by the Constitutional Council. A vote marked by a record abstention.

Former single party and main party of the outgoing Parliament, the FLN obtained 98 seats out of 407, in front of a disparate group of independents (84 elected), announced the president of the Constitutional Council, Kamel Fenniche, on public television.

Algeria’s leading Islamist party, the Legalist and Conservative Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), comes third with 65 elected officials.

Finally, the traditional ally of the FLN, the National Democratic Rally (RND), won 58 seats.

These two parties formed the backbone of the former presidential alliance created in 2012 to support President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, ousted from power in early 2019 by the popular uprising of the Hirak.

The victory of the FLN is a surprise because this party was considered discredited and at the end of its rope, because of its compromise with A. Bouteflika and his clan.

This election, which was held in a context of general repression against dissenting voices, had been rejected in advance by the Hirak and the secular and left opposition, described as a “masquerade”.

The participation rate was revised downwards to 23%, the lowest in the history of Algeria, all ballots combined.

This historic abstention testifies to the distrust of Algerians towards a largely discredited political class. The electorate had already massively shunned the ballot boxes during the 2019 presidential election and the 2020 constitutional referendum (60% and 76% respectively).

During the last legislative elections in 2017, participation had reached 35.7%.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune however chose to ignore this low turnout, “not important”.

The authorities are in fact determined to regain control after the Hirak earthquake, ignoring the demands of the street: rule of law, democratic transition, popular sovereignty, independent justice.

The next steps will be the inauguration, at the end of the month, of the new National People’s Congress (NPC), then the appointment of a prime minister and the formation of a government which will have to take into account the new political map.

The emerging assembly could lead to a coalition bringing together the two traditional parties (FLN and RND), the independents and the Islamo-conservatives.

It will be almost exclusively male since only 35 women were elected (out of 8,000 candidates), against 146 previously, due to the abolition of a quota system introduced in 2012.

With AFP