The presidential election begins with a judicial scandal
On Thursday 25 July, Algeria's Electoral Authority (ANIE) announced that it had accepted three candidates for the early presidential election on 7 September. They are President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is standing for re-election, the National Secretary of the Front des Forces Socialistes, Youssef Aouchiche, and the President of the Mouvement pour la Paix, Abdelaali Hassani. This is the first time since the advent of pluralism, albeit on the surface, since the 1996 election in which General Liamine Zeroual won, that a presidential election has seen only three contenders. And what contenders they were! The first, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, was imposed by the late Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, then Army Chief of Staff and Deputy Minister of National Defence. A candidate with no party affiliation and no popular base, but assured of victory. A victory that is already in sight, since the decision-makers have decided on a single round and are not keeping any suspense about the final outcome of the ballot. The two candidates chosen to keep him company have been chosen according to well-defined criteria. The first was chosen to break the boycott of the election in Kabylia. As was the case in 2019. The second is an Islamist whose role will be to mobilise the electorate of this current, even though he is an unknown quantity.
These three candidates were selected from a list of 16 aspirants. Among the 13 others whose candidatures were rejected was Saïda Neghza, president of one of the major employers' organisations. Reacting to her dismissal, she did not mince her words in denouncing the fraud that marked the selection of competitors. "I'm not afraid of anyone, I'll take my rights by force of law", she said at a press conference held at her office. Vehemently contesting the decision of the Independent National Electoral Authority, she demonstrated, with supporting documents, the fraud that had been perpetrated against her to keep her out of the race for the El-Mouradia Palace. Not mincing her words, she went so far as to accuse Abdelmadjid Tebboune, without naming him, of having been the main beneficiary of the fraud, declaring that "certain candidates have obtained the sponsorship of 300,000 voters, while we have not seen any stampedes in front of the town hall offices to legalise the forms". This was enough to set in motion the machine that would crush any dissenters and opponents who tried to be troublemakers in an electoral parody that they wanted to pass like a letter in the post.
A week later, on Thursday 1 August, the public prosecutor at the Algiers court announced that he had ordered the judicial police to open a "thorough preliminary investigation" against dozens of elected representatives and three candidates suspected of involvement in "the sale and purchase of sponsorships for the presidential election on 7 September". He promised that "all those directly or indirectly involved in this affair will be arrested and prosecuted". In the space of less than 48 hours, 77 people were brought before the public prosecutor's office at the Sidi M'hamed economic and financial criminal centre in Algiers on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 August. The three suspected candidates are Saïda Neghza, Abdelhakim Hamadi and Belkacem Sahli. The latter two serve merely as cover for the sanctions that will be taken against the President of the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises. The other two, Abdelhakim Hammadi, a veterinary surgeon from Constantine, has absolutely nothing to reproach himself with, just like Belkacem Sahli, who is used to the role of hare and a man totally committed to the system in place.
On the evening of Saturday, Saïda Neghza was arrested at her home and taken before the examining magistrate of the economic and financial section of the Sidi M'hammed court. She was questioned until very late the next day, before being placed under judicial supervision. Let's wait and see what happens next.