Activists in Algiers: the Election was a fraud. Your choice for us is not, and Your president must not rule us.
Algeria’s newly elected president said Friday that he will reach out to the protest movement that has rocked the north african country since February. But protesters, who had toppled his predecessor, went again on the street, and swore that they will not cease their protests.
The 74-year-old Abdelmadjid Tebboune campaigned as a technocrat, who believes to have proven his integrity by becoming adversaries with powerful businessmen, when he was prime minister for only three months in 2017 during the country’s veteranleder Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Many thousands participated in the protests against him on Friday in the capital Algiers.
the Election was a fraud. Your choice for us is not, and Your president must not rule us, cried the demonstrators.
– Tebboune is worse than Bouteflika. He is known to be one of the thieves, said a 31-year-old protester who works as a civil servant.
Tebboune estimated a conciliatory tone towards the protest movement Hirak and said that all should work together to build a new Algeria.
The 74-year-old former prime minister got a little over 58 percent of the votes in the first ballot, which was not necessary with a second round.
a total Of five candidates was drawn up. They had all been in the 82-year-old Bouteflikas control.
The 82-year-old Bouteflika went in april as a result of mass demonstrations against the regime. The unpopular choice was arranged by the military in an attempt to create stability after nearly 10 months of unrest.
the Turnout was nearly 40 percent.
This means that six out of ten voters abstained. It is the highest number since Algeria achieved independence from France in 1962. It says the resignation of the electoral commission chairman, Mohammed Sharafi.
the Protesters are demanding that ministers and officials from the Bouteflikas control also need to be replaced.
Thursday was the tens of thousands of people on the street to new protests on the election day itself.
Many citizens are demanding radical reforms. They see the government as inept, corrupt and unable to get the country’s economy on the right track and create jobs for especially the young people.
/ritzau/AFP
