The Algerian legislative elections for 2026, which took place on Thursday (July 2nd), recorded the lowest turnout in the history of parliamentary entitlements, with a turnout of only 20.79% after 4,962,433 voters voted out of about 23.8 million registered voters.
The acting head of the Independent National Electoral Authority (INEA), Karim Khalfane, said that the participation of the Algerian community abroad reached 10.67%, with a total of 91,170 voters out of 854,285 registered voters, consolidating these figures to consolidate the chronic state of apathy that has accompanied the elections since 2019.
Algerian authorities fail in election campaign
Algerian research centers reported that the participation of 33 parties and the return of the Democratic Bloc forces were not enough to raise the voter turnout, as the process came at the height of the summer holiday season amid weak mobilization, explaining that 9,854 candidates competed for 407 seats in the National People's Assembly, of which 54% were young people under 40, women 21%, and 47% had university qualifications.
The counting began in the presence of observers and representatives of the lists after the closure of polling stations in 69 states, with the preliminary results to be announced within 72 hours, and the appeals to the Constitutional Court, which will issue the final results within 10 days.
The research centers confirmed that this low percentage is an extension of the path of declining participation since the popular movement, as the voting percentages in the past five elections did not exceed a third of the voting bloc, despite the different circumstances. The Independent Authority extended the voting by an additional hour to improve turnout, while President Abdelmadjid Tebboune stressed the need to respect the law and ensure the integrity of the process.
The "Corrupt Money" Law Excluses Party Lists
The anti-corrupt money clause in Algeria's electoral law was the most present tool in the 2026 legislation, after the Independent National Electoral Authority (INEA) used it to exclude hundreds of candidates and party and free lists, based on security and administrative reports that were considered "decisive" in screening the electoral scene.
The electoral authority said that the article that stipulates that "the candidate should not be known to the public for his connection with the financial circles and suspicious businesses" gave it the authority to drop nominations based on prior investigations, which led to the exclusion of prominent businessmen and former MPs who tried to return through traditional parties or independent lists.
These decisions sparked a wide debate within the political arena, with the ruling parties accused of using "inaccurate" reports to exclude candidates with local weight, considering that the article is sometimes used to settle political scores.
Algerian think tanks said that this extensive screening deprived the elections of the "traditional mobilization machines" that relied on local power networks, which contributed to the weak turnout and the decline in the participation rate to a historic low of 20.79%, in the context of the country's chronic electoral abstinence for years.
A democracy "controlled" with strict limits?
The Washington-based think tank Freedom House once again classified Algeria as "not free," and said that "despite the existence of elections and political parties, the actual power is still in the hands of the presidency, the army and the security services."
Germany's Bertelsmann Transformation Index came to a similar conclusion, arguing that hopes for reform had largely faded, and "Algeria has returned politically and broadly to pre-Arab Spring conditions."
Since the end of the Hirak protests, several opposition parties, journalists, and human rights organizations have expressed regret over the increasingly shrinking political and media space, and Robin Frisch says that there is still political space for democratic procedures, and for this reason, he sees the return of many opposition parties after boycotting the 2021 elections as a positive thing.
The merit of the "new Algeria"
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune presented the elections as an additional step in the project of "renewing institutions" and building what is known as the "new Algeria".
Algerian reports and think tanks said the electoral process was conducted according to an open-list system that allows voters to rank candidates within a single list, in an attempt to limit the influence of political money and enhance the presence of youth and technocratic competencies within the new parliament.
The Independent National Electoral Authority (ANIE) oversees the entire voting and counting phase, amid official assurances to ensure transparency and address any breaches that may affect the credibility of the results.
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