The Referendum On The New Constitution Has Started

There is little doubt that the victory of the “yes” is so much so that the election campaign, which left the population largely indifferent, was one-way. Proponents of the “no” could not hold meetings.

Anniversary Of The Start Of The War Of Independence

In a message relayed on Saturday evening by the official APS agency, Abdelmadjid Tebboune assured that “the Algerian people will, once again, be at the rendezvous with history to make the expected change, Sunday, November 1, with a view to to institute a new era capable of realizing the aspirations of our people for a strong, modern and democratic State ”.

The date of the referendum was not chosen by chance: November 1 marks the anniversary of the start of the War of Independence against the French colonial power (1954-1962).

Health Measures Linked To Covid-19

Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 74, was transferred to Germany on Wednesday for “in-depth medical examinations” after the announcement of suspected cases of Covid-19 disease in his entourage. His condition is “stable and not worrying”, according to the presidency.

The 61,000 polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local (07:00 GMT) and will close 7 p.m. local. The first estimates will be known shortly after.

Due to the pandemic, a strict protocol is applied: access to the interior of the offices limited to two or three people at a time and the obligation to wear a mask. Curtains have been removed in voting booths to prevent voters from touching them.

Participation, A Key Indicator

The only stake in this election is the turnout. During the presidential election of December 12, it stood at 39.93%, the lowest rate of all pluralist presidential elections in the history of Algeria, making Abdelmadjid Tebboune a poorly elected president and therefore in quest for legitimacy.

“It’s a referendum from the top, a Caesarist plebiscite,” said Massensen Cherbi, doctor of law from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas.

From his inauguration, Abdelmadjid Tebboune made the revision of the Constitution, the umpteenth since the accession to independence, his flagship project and extended his hand to the demonstrators of the “blessed authentic popular Hirak”.

Protesters Call For A Boycott Of The Poll

This is the expression devoted by the regime to a movement whose demands it now considers satisfied, today qualifying its supporters as “counter-revolutionaries”. The protesters rejected “in substance and form” an initiative perceived as a “change of facade” and advocate a boycott of the referendum.

Born in February 2019 from an immense fed up with Algerians opposed to a fifth term of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the “Hirak” calls for the “dismantling of the system” in place since 1962. Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced to resign in April 2019 but the system is still there.

A New Constitution Without Much Novelty

In fact, the new Constitution, while putting forward a series of rights and freedoms, does not offer any major political change: it maintains most of the presidential regime and even broadens the prerogatives of the army. “Nothing has changed, we remain in an ultra presidentialist regime”, notes the constitutionalist Massensen Cherbi.

During the electoral campaign, those holding the “yes”, ie members of the government, the parties of the former ruling coalition which supported Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the public media, insisted that the project laid the foundations of a “new Algeria”. “.

“Relentless” Repression According To An NGO

The Minister of Communication and government spokesman, Ammar Belhimer, believes that the people will go “en masse” to the polls to lay “a new stone in the process of nation-building and thwart the maneuvers of the enemies of Algeria ”.

Twenty months after the outbreak of “Hirak”, the ballot is a challenge for a movement weakened by a campaign of repression described as “implacable” by Amnesty International, and by the forced interruption of demonstrations in mid-March due to the coronavirus health crisis.

Some 90 people (activists, bloggers, journalists) are behind bars for facts related to the protest, most for Facebook posts, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD).