President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was re-elected for a second five-year term, has sought to reshape his image as a bureaucrat into a reassuring one, but his record remains marred by criticism on freedoms and human rights.
He was re-elected on Sunday with about 95% of the vote, with a provisional average turnout of 48%, according to elections agency ANIE.
He faced off against moderate Islamist Abdelali Hasani (57), who received 3.17% of the vote, and Socialist candidate Yousef Auchiche (41), who received 2.16% of the vote.
Tebboune, 78, was elected president in December 2019 with 58 percent of the vote, despite a record abstention of more than 60 percent, amid massive Hirak pro-democracy protests.
The demonstrations that began in February of that year and led to the ouster of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, under whom Tebboune held various cabinet positions, called for fundamental political reform.
President Tebboune, with his calm demeanor and, to some, his affable public image, has tried to quell the protests and pardoned dozens of jailed activists.
He claims to defend the “blessed” spirit of the Hirak, which liberated the North African country from its oppressive past.
But he oversaw the imprisonment of hundreds of other activists, banned the movement’s weekly rallies and, with the backing of the military, cracked down on dissent.
Hasni Abidi, an analyst at the Geneva-based CERMAM research centre, said that even after five years, Tebboune’s term reflects “the deficit of our democracy”.
Algerian authorities “continue to stifle civil society through their brutal crackdown on human rights,” Amnesty International said.
The London-based human rights group condemned a “zero tolerance attitude towards dissent” amid an “atmosphere of fear and censorship.”
But Tebboune has ignored the accusations, instead touting his own social and economic achievements and promising even more if re-elected.
The current president often refers to the final years of Bouteflika’s rule as the “decade of the mafia”, a time when control of Algeria’s energy resources was concentrated in the hands of “gangsters”.
During his tenure, several key figures at the time, including Bouteflika’s brother Saied, were convicted and imprisoned on corruption charges.
Tebboune has since claimed he has put Algeria, Africa’s third-largest economy, back on track, saying the war between Ukraine and Russia has boosted natural gas prices, benefiting the country as the continent’s top exporter.
He has taken advantage of the situation by promising free housing, more jobs, a higher minimum wage and increased social pensions.
During his election campaign, Tebboune sought to appear closer to the people, even wearing traditional Tuareg dress when speaking at rallies in southern Sahara.
He is also seeking to appeal to young people, who make up about a third of the electorate, and has promised to create 450,000 jobs and increase monthly unemployment benefits if re-elected.
In March, he expressed pride in being called “Ami Tebboune” and even considered it a “fatherly relationship.”
Tebboune, running as an independent, is trying to distance himself from political parties that have lost credibility among many Algerians.
Mr Bouteflika’s supporters say he has restored a presidency that had been largely absent under his leadership since he suffered a stroke in 2013.
“The presidency has moved from a phantom institution to a real centre of power,” analyst Abidi said.
But critics say Tebboune rose to power with the backing of the military.
Like Bouteflika, he has served as defense minister and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, calling them the “backbone of the nation” and never challenging the military’s political role.
He is often seen accompanied by his Chief of Staff Syed Chengriha at official events.
A graduate of the National School of Administration, Tebboune rose through the ranks as governor of several states in the 1980s, eventually becoming part of the state apparatus that the Hirak protest movement later called for reforms.
In 1991, he served as Minister of Local Government under President Chadli Bendjedid, who was ousted at the start of the Algerian Civil War in early 1992.
In what has come to be known as the “Black Decade,” the military stepped in to block parliamentary elections after the Islamic Salvation Front won the first round and vowed to establish religious rule.
Tebboune largely disappeared from politics during the war, which ended in 2002, but returned after Bouteflika’s election in 1999, serving briefly as communications minister.
He worked in a variety of portfolios until 2002, after which he took a ten-year hiatus.
Tebboune returned as housing minister in 2012 and became prime minister in 2017, but was sacked after just three months for clashing with oligarchs close to Bouteflika.
Many of these oligarchs were later imprisoned on corruption charges during Tebboune’s presidency.
Once a heavy smoker with a thin moustache, Tebboune is now married with three sons and two daughters but quit smoking after contracting COVID-19 in 2020 and spending two months in hospital in Germany.
He returned to Germany in 2021 for foot surgery.
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