Algeria. Early presidential elections. Results

Electoral Commission Algeria She noted that Tabbun was well ahead of his rivals, Islamist Abdellah Hassan Cherif, who won 3 percent, and socialist Youssef Aouchiche, who won 2.1 percent.

The commission said fewer than six million of the country's 24 million voters turned out to vote. It did not provide exact turnout figures.

The outgoing president was very keen on high turnout. “That's his main problem. That's why he announced in March that the elections – traditionally held in December – were being postponed to coincide with the end of the summer holidays and the beginning of the new school year in the hope of increasing turnout,” explained Hasni Abidi, an analyst at the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center, quoted by Arab News.

Before the elections, voter turnout was predicted to be lower than five years ago (40 percent) because of widespread disillusionment with Tabbun's repressive rule.

Throughout the campaign, activists and international organizations, including Amnesty Internationalprotested against the repressive atmosphere of the campaign and the harassment and persecution of the opposition, media and civil society groups.

The announced vote result for Tabbun significantly exceeds his victory in 2019, when he won 58 percent of the vote to his closest rival’s 17 percent.

AFP points out that Tabbun's result is much higher than the 87 percent that Vladimir Putin received in the elections in March in Russiaand 92 percent of Ilham Aliyev announced in the elections in Azerbaijan in February. He recalls that independent election observers were not allowed to enter either Russia or Algeria.

Algeria, a country of 47 million people, is Africa's largest exporter of natural gas to Europe. It plays a key role in North African politics, so the election results will have a major impact on the region, where Algeria is at odds with its neighbor Morocco about Western Sahara.