Abdelmadjid Tebboune: “Algeria Is On The Right Path, The Boycotters Must Respect The Voters”

Algeria is on the right path, and the evidence of this is the attacks that followed it from several sides, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, said.

He addressed the election boycotters by saying that they are free, provided that they respect the voters.

“I give you a final date on the day of the state and municipal council elections, which are the last building blocks in the process of building state institutions”, the President of the Republic added at the press conference after casting his electoral vote.

In response to a question about his feeling of performing his electoral duty as president of the republic, he said: “I consider that I, like any citizen concerned with performing his electoral duty today, and that we are on the right path as long as we are under attack from several parties that do not want Algeria to enter democracy through its wide doors and grant freedom of decision-making to its people”.

“As a president or a citizen, I strongly believe in Article 7 of the Constitution, which states that power is for the people and they exercise it through their elected officials”.

In response to another question regarding his position on those who decided to boycott the elections, the President of the Republic commented: “They have the right to boycott the elections provided that they do not impose a boycott on others and respect the opinions of others and that the majority respects the opinion of the minority, which is the one who decides”.

In the same context, President Tebboune indicated that “democracy requires that the majority respects the minority that makes decisions”.

Commenting on a question about the expected voter turnout, the President of the Republic replied, “For me, the participation rate does not matter. What is most important to me is that those selected by the ballot boxes were elected legitimately, but this does not prevent me from being optimistic about the turnout I witnessed on television in many Wilayahs”.

On the other hand, the President of the Republic expected that the elections would produce an opposition majority and that it might result in a majority loyal to the President’s program, and “in both cases, we will take the decision that is in line with democratic foundations”.

Regarding the parties that called for postponing the elections, President Tebboune replied that “there are people who impose dictates without knowing who they represent, and no person or group can impose their dictates to be applied to an entire people”, adding that, “They are free in their statements, but the people were willing in these elections, and now their wish is realized”.