The National Liberal Front (FLN) wins heavily boycotted early legislative elections in Algeria

ALGERIA. The Independent National Authority for Elections (ANIE) announced on Tuesday evening, 15 June 2021, the results of the early legislative elections of Saturday 12 June 2021. The ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) came first with 105 seats out of 407. However, it lost about fifty representatives in the People's National Assembly (APN) compared to the previous legislature.

At the end of the election, the Islamist Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) claimed victory. However, this party only came third with 64 seats, overtaken by independent candidates who obtained 78 seats. The Democratic National Rally (RND), an ally of the FLN, won fifty-seven seats.

Thirty-four women were elected, compared to 146 in the previous assembly. The abolition of the quota system introduced in 2012 probably explains this low proportion.

This election, scheduled for 2022, was brought forward after the decision, in February 2021, of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to dissolve the APN.

The very high abstention rate underlies these results. According to the ANIE, only 5.62 million Algerians went to the polls out of an electorate of over 24 million. The organisation published, Sunday, June 13, 2021 at the closing of the election, a first provisional participation rate of 30.2%. If it is already the lowest in the history of Algeria, it could still be revised downwards. The protest movement, the Hirak (active for two and a half years), as well as part of the opposition, had called for a boycott of these elections.
 
Several arrests were recorded in the capital on the eve of the vote and the day before, including Algerian journalists (Ihsane El Kadi director of Radio M and Maghreb émergent as well as Khaled Drareni founder of Casbah Tribune and local correspondent of TV5 Monde and Reporters Without Borders) and Karim Tabbou, head of the Democratic and Social Union (UDS), a banned party. Activists were also arrested. On Sunday 13 June 2021, the Algerian Ministry of Communication withdrew the accreditation of the French television channel France 24, on the grounds of its "manifest and repeated hostility". Ammar Belhimer, Algerian Minister of Communication and government spokesman, denounced a "non-respect of the rules of professional ethics, disinformation and manipulation as well as a proven aggressiveness towards Algeria."
 
However, Mohamed Chorfi, president of ANIE notes that "The foundations of this Parliament were built in complete freedom and transparency by the people,".