Reassuring, but also criticized for human rights: who is ‘Uncle Tebboune’, Algeria’s second-term president?

ALGIERS, Sept. 9 — Abdelmadjid Tebboune, re-elected for a second five-year term, has tried to transform his bureaucratic image into that of a reassuring figure, although his record remains tarnished by criticism of freedoms and human rights.

He was re-elected on Sunday with almost 95 percent of the vote and a “provisional average turnout” of 48 percent, according to the electoral authority ANIE.

He ran against moderate Islamist Abdelaali Hassani, 57, who received 3.17 percent of the vote, and socialist candidate Youcef Aouchiche, 41, who received 2.16 percent of the vote.

Tebboune, 78, was elected in December 2019 with 58 percent of the vote, despite a record abstention rate of more than 60 percent, amid Hirak’s massive pro-democracy protests.

The demonstrations, which began in February of that year and led to the ouster of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, under whom Tebboune held several ministerial positions, were aimed at sweeping political reform.

With a calm demeanor and, to some, a friendly appearance, Tebboune tried to calm the protests by pardoning several dozen jailed activists.

He claims to uphold the “blessed” spirit of Hirak, which he says freed the North African country from an oppressive past.

Yet he was responsible for the imprisonment of hundreds of other activists, banned the movement’s weekly meetings and cracked down on dissenters, with the support of the military.

Five years later, Tebboune’s tenure still reflects “a democratic deficit,” said Hasni Abidi, an analyst at the Geneva-based Cermam Study Center.

According to Amnesty International, the Algerian authorities “have maintained their suppression of civic space by continuing their brutal crackdown on human rights”.

The London-based human rights group condemned “a zero-tolerance approach to dissent” in “a climate of fear and censorship”.

Tebboune, however, has avoided these accusations, instead praising his social and economic qualities and promising to achieve more if re-elected.

Africa’s third largest economy

The current president regularly refers to Bouteflika’s final years in power as the “mafia decade,” when control of Algeria’s energy wealth was concentrated in the hands of a “gang.”

During his time in office, several key figures of the era, including Bouteflika’s brother Said, were convicted of corruption and imprisoned.

Tebboune claims he has gotten Algeria, Africa’s third-largest economy, back on track as the war between Ukraine and Russia has sent natural gas prices soaring, a boon for the country, which is the continent’s largest exporter.

He has responded by promising free housing, more jobs, a higher minimum wage and higher social pensions.

During his campaign, Tebboune tried to be as close to the people as possible. During his protests in the southern Sahara, he even wore traditional Tuareg clothing.

He has also attracted young voters — about a third of registered voters — and promised to create 450,000 jobs and increase monthly unemployment benefits if re-elected.

In March, he expressed his pride in being called “ammi Tebboune” (“uncle Tebboune”), even calling it “a fatherly relationship”.

Tebboune is running in the elections as an independent and wants to distance himself from political parties, which have lost credibility among many Algerians.

His supporters say he has breathed new life into the presidency, which had become largely invisible under Bouteflika after his stroke in 2013.

“The presidency has changed from a phantom institution to a real center of power,” said analyst Abidi.

However, critics claim that Tebboune came to power with military support.

Like Bouteflika, he is defense minister and commander-in-chief of the armed forces and has never questioned the military’s political role, calling it “the backbone of the state.”

He is often seen at public events together with Chief of Staff Said Chengriha.

Political journey

Tebboune graduated from the National School of Public Administration and rose to prefect in several provinces in the 1980s, eventually becoming part of the state apparatus that the Hirak protests later sought to reform.

In 1991, he served as Minister of Local Communities under President Chadli Bendjedid, who was deposed in early 1992 when the Algerian Civil War broke out.

The war, dubbed the Black Decade, was marked by the military’s intervention to block parliamentary elections after the Islamic Salvation Front won the first round and vowed to establish religious rule.

Tebboune largely disappeared from the political scene during the war, which ended in 2002, but returned when Bouteflika was elected in 1999 and briefly served as communications minister.

Until 2002 he held various other portfolios, after which he had no portfolio for a decade.

Tebboune returned as housing minister in 2012 and became prime minister in 2017, but was dismissed after just three months, reportedly over clashes with oligarchs close to Bouteflika.

Many of these oligarchs were later imprisoned for corruption during Tebboune’s presidency.

Tebboune, once a heavy smoker with a thin moustache, is now married with three sons and two daughters. He quit smoking in 2020 after contracting Covid-19 and spending two months in hospital in Germany.

In 2021, he returned to Germany for foot surgery. — AFP