Abdelmadjid Tebboune, a singular candidacy
With no electoral platform, Abdelmadjid Tebboune is clinging to his presidential chair. He has warmed the chair on which the late Chief of Staff and Deputy Minister of National Defense, Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, had placed him. Presidential elections marked by fraud? We've seen them. Of all kinds and of all colors. In Algeria and in other African countries that aspire to democracy.
But the Algerian presidential election, 2024 edition, stands out from the rest. Although fraud had been announced from the outset, no one had ever expected such an aberration. The decision-makers and organizers of the September 07 elections have crossed every red line. They're going straight ahead, regardless of what people might think of them and their presidential election.
At first sight, after long internal struggles and a real attempt to take him out by the external security services, the decision-makers in the shadows are bringing the unloved Abdelmadjid Tebboune back into their secret boot. After a five-year term of office without a single achievement worthy of the name, the current tenant of the El-Mouradia palace is at the head of the list to run for a second term with a very peculiar feature: no program to present or defend in front of his competitors.
No adversarial debate between candidates
But which competitors are we talking about? They've been hand-picked. They are two illustrious unknowns, even to the militants of the parties they claim to represent. On their side, there's nothing to fear. With no financial means and no popular base, Youcef Aouchiche of the FFS and Abdelaali Hassani Cherif of the Islamist movement MSP, paradoxical as it may seem, are much more a support for Tebboune than an opposition.
Uniquely in the annals of politics, Tebboune's rivals are not calling on voters to give them their votes, but simply to turn out en masse to boost turnout, the Gordian knot of this electoral contest in the eyes of the decision-makers behind the scenes.
Tebboune's competitors don't dare ask him to account for his previous mandate, nor for his program for the coming term. He is simply a God whom no one would dare challenge or question on any subject.
Tebboune is untouchable. Above all, he has no medical certificate attesting to his good moral health. After his verbal outbursts during his first two outings, Algerians began to question whether Tebboune is in full possession of his mental faculties.
Asking Egypt to open its borders with Gaza to allow the Algerian army to “ show what it can do ‘ and ’ build three hospitals in three weeks ‘, after announcing to the UN General Assembly that he would ’ desalinate 1.5 billion m3 / day ”, enough to dry out the Mediterranean and turn it into a desert, there is reason to worry about the state of Tebboune's mental health.
Not presenting a medical certificate is first and foremost a violation of electoral law. But the man has no respect for the laws of the republic. Tebboune doesn't even care about declarations of assets. He is “God” and above the law.
But we mustn't think of him as a cruel, ruthless dictator. No, Tebboune has the face of a gentle little man incapable of harming a fly. His cool, peasant-suited look has led Algerians to call him “tonton Tebboune” (3ammi Tebboune). And he likes it.
Tebboune is simply a puppet in the hands of a handful of generals who lack the courage to be the country's real decision-makers. In other words, he who lacks the courage to assume his role can only be a coward.
The men of November1st 1954, Larbi Ben Mehidi, Mustapha Benboulaïd, Rabah Bitat, Didouche Mourad, Mohamed Boudiaf and Krim Belkacem, must be turning over in their graves.