The initial 2024 election’s results issued by Algeria’s National Independent Electoral Authority (ANIE) stated that President Tebboune won with 95% of the vote. President Tebboune’s opponents challenged the results and filed appeals with the country’s Constitutional Court. The main issue was the discrepancy between the number of votes used to tally the results and the turnout figures published by election officials.

President Tebboune decided to hold the presidential elections three months ahead of the date originally scheduled. He argued that the polls needed to be brought forward due to the current international situation and the dangers looming over Algeria." Opposition parties accused the president of anticipating the election date to gain advantages from a shortened electoral campaign and the low turnout rates due to the summer months, in which many Algerians are outside the country.

The election was marked by accusations and reports of corruption, malpractices and intimidation. There were also reports of arrests of people over alleged election fraud. Among those detained were opposition leader Fethi Ghares, who was accused of "insulting the president" and spreading disinformation online. Members of the opposition called for a boycott of the presidential elections. There were high abstention rates throughout the country, with a voter turnout of 26.5%.

Women’s Political Participation

Algerian women’s political participation representation remains low in the legislature and among cabinet members. As of October 2024, women hold 32 (7.9%) out of the 407 seats in the National People’s Assembly and 7 (4.1%) out of the 170 seats in the Council of the Nation. Following the 2024 presidential elections, 4 (11.4%) out of the 35 ministers are female. They are:

• Ms Meriem Benmiloud, Minister for Digitalisation and Statistics
• Ms Faiza Dahleb, Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy
• Ms Souraya Mouloudji, Minister Solidary, Family and Status of Women
• Ms Basma Azour, Minister of Parliamentary Relations
  

The country has yet to elect a female President and no woman has been appointed Prime Minister. Algerian women, however, expressed their intention to run for the Presidency and there has been one female presidential candidate.  In the 2024 presidential polls, three women- Ms Louisa Hanoune, Ms Zoubida Assoul and Ms Saida Neghza- sought to participate but had their candidacies blocked by ANIE.

Ms Hanoune made history in 2024 when she became the first woman in the Arab world to run for President, obtaining 1% of the votes. She previously sought to run in 1999 but the Constitutional Court rejected her candidacy. Ms Hanoune ran again in 2009 and 2014 (4.5% and 1.4% of the votes). She ultimately decided to end her run for the presidency saying the "legal framework had been skewed" to prevent opponents of Tebboune from running.”

ANIE rejected the candidacies of Ms Zoubida Assoul and Ms Saida Neghza because of insufficient signatures. Ms Zoubida Assoul is the leader of the Union for Change and Progress Party and was a leader in the Hirak protests. Ms Saida Neghza, a prominent businesswoman and president of the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises, entered politics just a few months before the elections and she announced her candidacy in a successful event, followed by many journalists and national media.

Legal and policy reforms on women’s rights

Algeria has adopted legislation on women’s rights. Many legislative efforts came after the Arab Spring Protests and sought to enhance, among others, women’s political rights. In 2011, Algeria adopted a law on gender quotas, requiring one-third of the seats in the National People’s Assembly and local elections reserved for women.

In 2020, the President announced amendments to the Electoral Law. Article 317 of the new Electoral Law permits candidate lists that do not meet the gender parity requirement if the election authority is informed. The previous Electoral Law required gender parity for candidate lists to be accepted. Therefore, under the amended Electoral Law political parties and independents to consider gender parity before presenting candidate lists but with no obligation to achieve it. Among Algeria’s political parties, only the Liberation Front adopted a voluntary quota requiring two of the top five candidates in the provincial lists to be women.

Algeria also held a constitutional referendum in 2020. The 2020 Constitution of Algeria enshrines the principles of equality and non-discrimination. The Constitution also contains provisions on women’s rights. For example, the States commits to promoting “the political rights of women by increasing their chances of access to representation in elected assemblies” (Article 59) and “women to positions of responsibility in public institutions and administrations, as well as in the enterprises.” (Article 71)“ Moreover, the State also commits to protecting women from all forms of violence in all places and situations in the public, professional, and private spheres (Article 40.)

The government of Algeria has also enacted legislation concerning women's employment rights. For example, Law No 15-19 addresses sexual harassment in employment. The law also mandates equal remuneration for work of equal value (Law No. 90-11.) In 2015, Algeria adopted Law No 15-19 addressing domestic violence.

Challenges to women’s political participation

Although legislative efforts, Algeria has yet to achieve parity in political life. The political environment has not “allowed women to get into higher decision-making positions in significant numbers” at the national and local levels or in political parties. Algerian women seeking to participate in political and public life face social, political, legal and economic barriers.

After the adoption of the quota in 2011, Algerian women’s representation increased from 7.7% in 2007 to 31.6% in 2012. While the quota improved women’s representation “on a surface level”, their participation in parliament did not result in increased involvement of women in political parties or government. Research suggests that this is because the inclusion of women is selective. While they are present in politics, they are largely absent from decision-making in governing bodies of the parties or the executive. In the National People’s Assembly, a 2018 UNP study showed that women held 6.3% of the 32 positions. Moreover, female representatives mainly served on committees dealing with traditional women’s concerns such as social and cultural affairs, health and education.

The implementation of the gender quota sparked a backlash in the country, with many questioning the legitimacy of women in parliament. According to some reports, political parties selected female candidates without political experience to “create the illusion of adherence to the quota law.” The women elected performed poorly which in turn strengthened already existing perceptions that women should not be involved in politics.

Female candidates struggle to compete against politically and financially powerful candidates. The process of collecting the required signatures is often complicated and lacks transparency, as Ms Saida Neghza noted. Additional, women do not always receive support from political parties. Per the amendment to the Electoral Law, political parties are no longer mandated to include an equal number of women on their candidate lists. Although state funding for political parties is based on the number of women candidates elected, there are no sanctions are imposed on parties failing to introduce gender quotas. As many Algerian women lack economic independence, securing the necessary financial resources, without the support of political parties can be a significant challenge. Furthermore, in political campaigns it is not common for posters to show the faces of male candidates while women are represented by a silhouette.

Algerian women protesters and activists and female candidates and members of parliament face discrimination, harassment and abuse. They often receive sexist statements or other derogatory comments. For example, in 2021, the leader of the Good Governance Front (Front de la bonne gouvernance) compared the women presented by his party to "selected strawberries" to extol their qualities.

Finally, traditional customs and rules, strict gender roles and social norms shape women’s role in Algerian society and political life. Algerian society is patriarchal. Many, including political parties, leaders and other decision-makers, do not believe women are “capable of holding any senior position, including the presidency of the country.” In some part of Algeria, a woman’s political participation is considered shameful for the honor of the woman and her family. Public spaces are often restricted to women.

Women in Algeria advocating for change

Women have always been an important part of Algeria’s political life, participating in the country’s independence movement and in the Arab Spring protests for example. Many women participated as combatants in the War of Independence (1954–1962). More recently, women were a strong presence in the Hirak protests. The Hirak protest broke out on February 22, 2019, in opposition to former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's candidacy for a fifth presidential mandate. During the Hirak movement, female activists created a “feminist square” demanding more rights for women.

In 2011, women’s rights groups were among the civil society organisations that formed a coalition - The National Coordination for Change and Democracy (NCCD) calling for political and social reforms. Algerian women’s groups are also actively campaigning for stronger provisions on how female candidates are presented on electoral lists and advocating for stricter laws to guarantee women’s rights within the family and in the workplace.

Women’s groups, such as the National Movement of Algerian Feminists (MFNA) also demand changes in existing legislation containing discriminatory provisions. MFNA, set up in 2019, is calling for the repeal of the Family Code. MFNA also seeks to increase the visibility of women and strengthen their collective resistance to the shrinking of public spaces.

At the institutional level, projects have also been implemented to advance gender equality. For example, the Algerian Ministry for the Family and the Female Condition together with the MDG Achievement Fund, a project that focused on database management for gender-sensitive information, training on gender-responsive budgeting, and training for women and women’s groups working in media and magazines.

Conclusion

Incumbent President Mr Abdelamajid Tabboune was reelected with 84.3 % of the votes in the 2024 polls. There were no female presidential candidates as ANIE rejected the candidacies of the three women who had hoped to participate. Thus, Ms Hanoune remains the only Algerian woman to run for the presidency. Algeria has yet to elect a woman president or appoint a female Prime Minister.

Few Algerian women participate in political life, and their representation in the Algerian legislature is low . The adoption of the quota in 2011 had an initially a positive impact as it increased women’s representation. However, the amendment of the Electoral law had a negative impact on women’s representation as it decreased from 26% to 8%. Currently, Algeria has one of the lowest representation of women in national parliaments in Africa and globally.

Algerian women’s rights groups, activists and politicians have a long history of participating in the country’s political and public life. They continue to actively hold governments accountable and advocate for women’s rights and the revision of legislation with discriminatory provisions.

Although Ms Louisa Hanoune, Ms Zoubida Assoul and Ms Saida Neghza were ultimately unsuccessful in becoming presidential candidates, their intentions to run are important in changing the perception of Algerian women in politics and leadership positions. Their journeys highlight the challenges women face in the current Algerian political environment and challenges in overcoming strongly held views on women’s role in Algerian society. When announcing her intention to run, Ms Hanoune said she hoped “to change the prevailing view in Algeria that the post of president is only for men” and to “limit men’s control over the race.” They also highlight the importance of women competing “alongside men as it encourages other women to participate in the future.” While the journey has yet be concluded, Algerian women remain committed to achieving full and equal participation in the country’s political and public life.

• Algeria