Algeria declares President Tebboune election winner with 95% of vote

BY REUTERS 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% of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off, with Abdelaali Hassani Cherif getting 3% and Youcef Aouchiche 2%. Turnout was 48%. 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 […]