Algeria: a facade presidential election

12 December: Algerians are called upon to vote in early presidential elections. Nine months after the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika following an unprecedented mobilization of the population (Hirak movement), a majority of Algerians contest an election they perceive as a trap: the military power (embodied by General Gaïd Salah, Chief of Staff for 15 years), omnipresent, is accused of perpetuating a system that Algerians no longer want.
The election is likely to be massively boycotted and majority abstention, if the results are not rigged…
Repression of opponents has increased in recent months. For example, the press cartoonist Nime, who has just been sentenced to one year in prison for his political cartoons…le dessinateur de presse Nime, qui vient d’être condamné à un an de prison pour ses dessins politiques…

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