A court in Algiers has announced that it is investigating disqualified presidential hopefuls for alleged endorsement fraud, following reports of “signature sales” by elected officials.
Lotfi Boudjemaa, attorney general at the Court of Algiers, stated that more than 50 elected officials who were interviewed admitted to accepting money in exchange for endorsing candidates for the upcoming presidential election.
The officials reportedly received amounts ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 Algerian dinars ($148 to $222) for signing endorsements. Three disqualified candidates suspected of involvement in the fraud “will be arrested,” Boudjemaa added.
To qualify for the ballot, candidates must present a list of at least 50,000 individual signatures from registered voters or endorsements from 600 members of provincial assemblies across at least 29 of Algeria’s provinces.
Only three candidates, including incumbent Abdelmadjid Tebboune, have been approved for the September 7 election. The other two approved candidates are Abdelaali Hassani of the moderate Islamist party, the Movement of Society for Peace, and Youssef Aouchiche of the centre-left Socialist Forces Front.
The remaining 13 hopefuls were disqualified after failing to secure the required number of signatures. The investigation revealed that several elected officials had illegally accepted bribes to endorse these candidates.
Tebboune, a former prime minister under long-serving president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was ousted during mass protests in 2019, has been criticized for his administration’s crackdown on the Hirak movement that led the protests. Utilizing restrictions during the Covid pandemic, Tebboune’s government banned Hirak demonstrations and increased prosecutions of dissident activists, journalists, and academics.
In February, Amnesty International highlighted ongoing restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Algeria, five years after the pro-democracy protests began.