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Algeria: new draft election law distributed for review

January 20, 2021 at 3:02 pm

Algerian flags flutter in front of the People’s National Assembly (parliament) building in the capital Algiers [RYAD KRAMDI/AFP/Getty Images]

The Algerian presidency distributed the new draft election law to the country’s political parties on Tuesday for review, before submitting the final draft to the parliament for a vote, Annahar newspaper has reported. The new draft includes a set of conditions that candidates must fulfil in order to be able to stand in the country’s elections.

It proposes that the National Independent Authority on Elections will replace the Interior Ministry in the supervision of political parties’ election lists as well as independent candidates. The authority will then decide on the validity of their candidacy.

The draft law prohibits candidates from using hate speech and any kind of discrimination, as well as using foreign languages during campaigns. It also guarantees candidates’ right to have access to accredited media.

A ceiling on expenditure for presidential elections of not more than 100 million dinars (about $753,000), is proposed. The ceiling will be 1.5 million dinars for legislative council candidates.

Last September, the Algerian presidency announced that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had assigned a national committee to review the country’s election law. At the time, the president had pledged during his electoral campaign that the state shall bear the expenses of young people who wish to join the election race. “This is so that they do not fall prey to corrupt or suspicious funds.”

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