ALGIERS -The announcement to bring forward the presidential election to September 2024 seems to have taken many by surprise. Committed to transparency, the President of the Republic destabilized his adversaries, but also his allies, with this announcement that appears to be abrupt in the form, but so coherent in substance.
Who controls timing controls the situation. President Tebboune has consistently been a “timekeeper”, frequently perplexing, but never outpaced. The first lesson from the snap election announcement is a return to normality, says APS commenting on the announcement of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune to hold a snap presidential election on 7 September 2024.
The 2019 events, the July 2019 postponed presidential election, and the December one held “in a hurry”, had modified the Algerian election agenda. Disrupting established traditions due to political events of extraordinary magnitude.”
President Tebboune’s announcement is therefore the official indication of the crisis settlement. The Algerian State is no longer experiencing crisis or emergency. It has regained its stability. Its institutions have regained their equilibrium. Its decision-making process has been restored. The election agenda has thus been readjusted based on the standard of democracy and return to constitutional and institutional stability. Even if it means shortening his term of office, the President's perception appears to have been steered by this intent to restore the stability of the State’s structure.”
The second lesson is the eternal resort to the Algerian people. They are the sole decision-makers and judges of the President of the Republic’s action. This announcement mirrors President Tebboune’s trust in the people, citizens and voters, in their judgment and lucidity. Certainly, some of the usual voices have begun to conjure up the most absurd scenarios, unable to decipher the President's black box. Speech is free and speculation free.
If enemies are bewildered, it is precisely because of this close relationship between a President and his people. President Tebboune has never needed an intermediary, a filter or a guardian. Right from the start of his mandate, he used the language of truth and pure frankness with the people. Straightforward. Unambiguous. Even if it meant shocking some, or upsetting others. This is the presidential style, typical of President Tebboune, who has always dared to think outside the box. He has always dared to think outside the box, to speak plainly to the people because he believes them to be mature and allergic to political lies. In this sense, it is up to him, and him alone, to address them with his vision of the future when he decides.
The third lesson is, without doubt, geopolitical calculation. The latest gas summit, conflict management and geostrategic and security changes in the region have certainly shaped this thinking and have influenced this announcement. Algeria is playing a tight game that will condition its future as a nation in the face of new colonialism. The external threats are so real and palpable that shortening the first mandate is a tactical necessity. It it an anticipation of programmed turbulence. The international stakes are higher than the national ones. Algeria must demonstrate its internal unity and domestic coherence, with a President, an Army and institutions in battle in order to prevent external crises. They are already on our doorstep and they are targeting our sovereignty and security.
The return to stability that has been President Tebboune's cardinal concern must find its extension in the message Algeria sends to its partners and historic enemies. We must not count on internal fragility. There will be no weakness in the face of adversity.
Algeria is ready for the current challenges, and putting forward a presidential election is the message of this new-found serenity.
The final lesson is unquestionably the President's calm. It cannot be stressed enough, but Algeria has a President who works. He has a job to do and only one boss: the people. Until he achieves his objectives, fulfils his solemn promises and meets his unshakeable commitments, the President will remain completely focused on completing his pact with the Algerian people to whom he has restored the dignity of being the supreme arbiter.
This "New Algeria" has been decried from the outset by experts in defeatism, professionals in "diclinism", nostalgic for state corruption and internal traitors who oppose the emergence of this renewed Algeria. The road was strewn with pitfalls, the task was tremendous, sometimes for health-related reasons (COVID-19), which had proved the mutual aid between state and citizen, but often for reasons endogenous to the political system, which had gone off course. The return to a strong State comes at a price. President Tebboune has made the hopes, aspirations and proposals of his people his sole priesthood. He has thus become the guarantor of the generational link between the Algeria of the Revolution and the Algeria of Renewal.
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