Algerian leader declared poll winner with 95pc of vote
Algerian authorities declared President Abdulmadjid Tebboune the overwhelming winner of Saturday's election on Sunday, but a rival candidate alleged irregularities in the count and fewer than half of registered voters cast ballots. Official preliminary results gave Tebboune 95 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off, with Abdelaali Hassani Cherif getting 3 percent and Youcef Aouchiche 2 percent. Turnout was 48 percent. Tebboune, backed by the military, was facing only nominal opposition from Hassani Cherif, a moderate Islamist, and Aouchiche, a moderate secularist, both running with the blessing of Algeria's powerful establishment. Hassani Cherif's campaign said polling station officials had been pressured to inflate results and alleged failures to deliver vote-sorting records to candidates' representatives, as well as instances of proxy group voting. It did not say whether it believed the violations had affected the result and Reuters could not immediately reach Tebboune's or Aouchiche's campaign for comment. However, electoral commission head Mohammed Charfi said when announcing the results that the body had worked to ensure transparency and fair competition among all candidates. Tebboune's re-election means Algeria will likely keep on with a governing programme that has resumed lavish social spending based on increased energy revenues after he came into office in 2019 following a period of lower oil prices. He has promised to raise unemployment benefits, pensions and public housing programmes, all of which he increased during his first term as president. "As long as Tebboune continues to raise wages and pensions and maintain subsidies he will be the best in my eyes," said Ali, a customer in the Ouled Fayet district of Algiers, asking not to write his family name. (Reuters)