Why were the Tunisian and Algerian presidential elections so similar?

There were many similarities between the Algerian presidential election, which took place on 7 September, and the election in Tunisia a month later. The similarities did not end at the results, which saw both presidents winning by percentages that take the two countries back to the one-party era and the kind of polls that are more like referendums than elections. Both countries have witnessed this before.

In fact, both can be described as “pre-emptive fraud” with the Algiers and Tunis regimes controlling the list of candidates competing against the president running for a second term. The results were a foregone conclusion, with predictable landslide “victories”. There was no serious competition in either Algeria or Tunisia.

The falsification of the electoral process saw regimes and media closing down national political life, and relying on a compliant judiciary. The judiciary in Algeria dutifully imprisoned the activist Abla El-Guoumri, from Touggourt, while its counterpart in Tunisia has cracked down on the opposition in every form, which is apparent in the case of Sheikh Rashid Ghannouchi, whose age and national and international status did not spare him from being deprived of his freedom. Many media personalities, male and female alike, have been targeted, as well as the legally-recognised political parties. This is clear in both countries.

This is why many political forces boycott this type of “election”, whether in Algeria or Tunisia, because planning to stand as a candidate is the quickest way to be imprisoned, banned, fined or worse.

The road must be kept clear for the incumbent president.

The only snag is the electoral turnout at the ballot box. The people have lost hope in their economic and social conditions due to the lack of freedom and prospects, so why should they vote? No wonder that the preferred candidates get a ridiculously high percentage of the votes. They are rigged.

Many people want to emigrate; it is the only solution they can see in which the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the women and the men are equal. At the forefront of such would-be emigrants are those with high qualifications and academic degrees, and if they are able to get out their loss to the nation increases the impoverishment of both countries and prevents them from reaching the level in which they have invested many years. Ultimately, it is the rich Western societies who benefit from them.

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The popular boycott of the elections — if we can call them that — was felt in Algeria and Tunisia. They produced two presidents without a true popular base that can be relied on in turbulent times regionally and internationally. This is highlighted by the situation in the neighbouring Sahel countries, whose problems are demonstrated by the number of illegal migrants, weapons and drugs being smuggled through Algeria and Tunisia en route to the Mediterranean and, they hope, Europe.

What’s more, neither of the regimes in Algiers and Tunis have a role in the region any longer. We no longer hear of Tunisian or Algerian diplomats having a role in neighbouring Libya, for example, despite the impact that the situation there has on the safety and security of their own countries.

It has become customary for invitations to be extended to Algiers and Tunis from the north Mediterranean countries that control the crisis in Libya to attend seminars as guests, as if they have no direct interest in the matter. The same scenario is repeated when it comes to common issues that concern both countries, such as irregular migration, in which Europe wants the North African states to be gendarmes guarding its southern borders.

Taking advantage of the competition and lack of coordination between the two countries — which can be generalised to include Morocco as well — the powerful European states act in coordination with each other and issue laws to protect their strategic interests, usually at the expense of the countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. We have even seen Algeria’s “El Mordjene” chocolate spread banned from the European market thanks to a decision made in France.

This is happening at a time when the common interests of the two countries requires coordination and cooperation to reach common positions in order to preserve the interests of both nations in the face of the shift to the far-right across Europe, which remains their main economic partner. This is in addition to the presence of significant émigré Algerian and Tunisian populations in Europe. Their diplomats should have been working towards greater coordination, at the very least, and developing joint strategies. This is already done by their respective interior ministries in terms of security issues with a direct impact on their citizens. This is done no matter who occupies the seats of power in Algiers and Tunis.

Indeed, dissidents are persecuted and shamed when in their neighbouring state as if they were in their own country.

The bottom line in both Algeria and Tunisia is that the elections were organised at a time when the political arena in both countries is stagnant. Popular demands for change have been quelled in recent years, as if all hope has been squeezed out of the people on both sides of the border. The people are still desperate, though, including the political and intellectual elites who succumbed to the waves of overwhelming political apostasy of which these latest presidential elections were a symptom. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that the people will rally themselves and revive their spirits as they have done on numerous occasions in the past in order to seek freedom and justice, and boost their chances of a decent life without the need to migrate.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.