Thousands march in Algeria after controversial election result

Huge crowds have massed in Algeria’s capital to protest against the election of a former loyalist of the deposed leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika as president in a widely boycotted poll.

Demonstrators who flooded central Algiers on Friday vowed to keep up their campaign for the total dismantling of the political establishment following Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s victory in Thursday’s election.

“Tebboune is worse than Bouteflika. He’s known for being one of the thieves,” said Meriem, a 31-year-old civil servant. “We did not vote and we will not back down.”

Mohammed Charfi, head of Algeria’s electoral commission, said Tebboune, a 74-year-old former prime minister, had won 58% of the vote, according to preliminary results.

Charfi said 40% of voters took part in the election, which state media cast as a high enough turnout to vindicate the decision to hold the poll in spite of a boycott.

The poll and its legitimacy is a crucial trial of strength pitting the ruling party and a powerful military, who hope it will end months of protests and instability, against an informal coalition of protesters.

Ahmed Mizab, a commentator on state television, said it showed the decision to hold the elections was “propitious and right”.

“The turnout is satisfying and it will give the new president enough backing to implement his reforms,” he said.

The opposition movement, which has mounted weekly demonstrations since February – forcing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down after two decades in office – said the contest between five officially sanctioned candidates was a ploy to protect the interests of the political establishment.

Protesters in Algiers chanted “the vote was rigged” as they marched through the capital’s streets.

Tebboune, who is known to be close to Algeria’s military, won by a clear margin. However he will struggle to be accepted by the electorate in Algeria, where many see the regime as inept, corrupt and unable to manage the flagging economy.

Riad Mekersi, 24, who has participated in all the Hirak protests since 22 February, said the movement would continue no matter who won.

“We have toppled Bouteflika, and we will topple all the system’s men. We won’t give up,” he said.

The protest movement began when Bouteflika, 82, announced in February he would seek a fifth term. It has since moved on to demanding the total dismantling of the system that has ruled Algeria since independence from France in 1962.

The military high command, which long wielded power from the shadows, has been forced to take a more visible role and has pushed for the election as a way to resolve the political crisis.

A previous poll set for July was scrapped due to a lack of viable candidates, and the interim president, Abdelkader Bensalah, technically ended his term five months ago.

All the candidates struggled to campaign, with hostile crowds gathering outside poorly attended rallies in heavily guarded venues. Election posters have been repeatedly torn down.

The poll on Thursday was marred by scattered clashes with police, a wave of arrests and sizeable protests.

The army and the National Liberation Front (FLN), the party that won independence from France in 1962 and has ruled ever since, have pledged that the vote will be free.

Algerian courts this week handed down heavy jail sentences in high-profile corruption trials for two former senior officials, Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal. But those verdicts did little to win over the protesters, who saw the trials as little more than a high-level purge in a struggle between still-powerful regime insiders.