Africa News of Monday, 2 November 2020
Source: africanews.com
Algerians approved a revised version of the North African country's constitution with two thirds of votes cast, the electoral commission said Monday, after record low turnout in the previous day's referendum.
The vote had widely been seen as a regime manoeuvre to neutralise the Hirak protest movement, which at its peak had swept long-time president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power.
The Hirak had called for a boycott of the referendum.
The revised text passed with 66.8 percent of the vote, National Independent Elections Authority (ANIE) chief Mohamed Charfi told a news conference, noting that the exercise took place in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
Charfi had earlier announced turnout of just 23.7 percent, a historic low for a major vote.
The regime "wanted to break the momentum of the Hirak by reducing its demands to a minimal revision of the constitution", Algeria expert Hasni Abidi told the press.
"The people massively rejected this and placed the regime at a dead end."
The plebiscite took place in the absence of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is hospitalised overseas after reported cases of the Covid-19 illness among his staff.
Tebboune had been elected in December in a poll with a turnout of just under 40 percent, the lowest in a presidential election since independence from France in 1962.
Said Salhi, deputy president of the Algerian Human Rights League, said Sunday's low turnout was "a victory for the Hirak".
"The regime must take note of its failure and reconsider its roadmap," he tweeted. "The process of democratic transition is the solution."
A proposal to revise Algeria’s constitution won the most votes in Sunday’s referendum despite the lowest ever turnout for a major election in the countryhttps://t.co/pSpyOyP0b7
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) November 2, 2020