In one of the street corners of central Algiers saturated with police presence, the debate breaks out between a retiree and a young man: “I am voting for the new Algeria. “The young man, drawing on his morning cigarette in front of a newspaper stand, replied:” Today’s date is new. I don’t vote. »The exchange is cordial and finally sums up the situation of an Algeria which is waking up in this 1is November, 66e anniversary of the outbreak of the liberation war, a day of referendum on the new Constitution, the flagship project of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
“A Halal Constitution”
But now, suffering from covid-19, hospitalized in Cologne in Germany, the Head of State will not attend this vote. It is his wife who will vote in his place by proxy. Just as much as another absent: Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the deposed president, was also able to vote by proxy via his brother Nacer… Funny waltz for the political staff at the top of the Algerian state.
No matter, even with a record abstention rate, with only 23.72% participation, the revision project passes with 66.80% of “yes”, against 33.20% of “no”. Better, according to the president of the National Independent Election Authority (ANIE), Mohamed Charfi: “We have a halal Constitution. “Allusion made to the past triturings of the elections and other polls, when the administration alone managed the vote under the leadership of the 48” big voters “, the walis (prefects).
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No fatwa can therefore cast doubt on the electoral process or the final adoption of the constitutional reform. “In Algerian law, there is not a threshold that validates or cancels a ballot,” said Mr. Charfi during the announcement, this Monday, November 2, of the preliminary results of the vote in the framework of the referendum on the revision of the Constitution. “This participation rate is historically the lowest of all popular referendums organized in Algeria since independence. For example, the 1996 Constitution was adopted by referendum with a participation rate of nearly 80%, ”recalls the electronic newspaper TSA.
“Power has failed”
The opposition is also focusing on this low turnout, commented on social networks as a strong sign of disavowal to the system. For the Islamists of the Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP, Muslim Brotherhood trend), who called for voting “no”, abstention means “losing its credibility and its political and popular legitimacy. [au pouvoir] “, And that,” despite the enormous official capacities which were devoted to its adoption “. “The result of the referendum confirms the failure of the plans of the authorities in power and their inability to reach a national consensus on the Constitution as announced, so as to protect the country from the real risks which threaten it”, adds the MSP.
On the secular opposition side, the Rassemblement pour la culture et la democratie (RCD) – which considers that “the actual participation in this consultation is probably in a figure” – also criticizes the authorities: “The power, in fact, has failed, including in his attempt to bring together the followers of the sharing of the rent around his approach. Yet he had all the means to do so. ”
“To persist in this approach and to promulgate a Constitution rejected by 86.3% of the voters, it is to open the way to the disorder carrying all the dangers”, warns the party, which says itself targeted by the authorities. “Those responsible for making such a decision will take full responsibility for this act. This responsibility will be all the heavier as another choice exists. It consists in bringing together without delay the conditions for the expression of the sovereign people ”, concludes the RCD.
But does this record abstention rate really express political rejection? “Algerians are very pragmatic: they know that a reform of the Constitution is very far from their daily concerns, from their projections for their children, for the future”, comments an academic crossed next to a polling station on Sunday .
The official agenda suspended
The following ? For the authorities, it will be a question of continuing their agenda outlined since the presidential election of December 12, 2019. Next step: legislative elections probably in the period December 2020-January 2021 – if conditions allow, since we are talking more and more the possibility of confinement in the face of the resurgence of cases of coronavirus contamination. The other unknown remains the state of health of the Head of State, transferred on October 28 to Germany for “in-depth medical examinations”, according to the official version. According to the channel correspondent Al-Jazira in Germany, who contacted doctors in the hospital where the Algerian president is staying as well as German officials, Mr. Tebboune “will be able to go through this ordeal” and “his recovery is a matter of time”. In Algiers, the wait for the return sets the pace for the official tempo: no statement from the high authorities was recorded that day. The agenda of power is on hold for the moment.

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