Legislative elections: the people voted with their silence

With an official turnout rate of only 20% nationwide and 15% in Kabylie according to the ANIE—figures that many already consider heavily overestimated—these legislative elections will go down as those of massive rejection on a national scale.

This boycott is unprecedented. Unlike previous ballots, it reflects not only a rejection of those in power, but also the disavowal of a political class that, in the eyes of a large portion of the population, no longer represents any credible alternative.

For decades, the regime attempted to make Kabylie a political bogeyman in order to unite the rest of the country around the so-called “Kabyle danger.”

This strategy has now failed. The Algerian people allowed themselves to be divided no longer. Through their massive boycott, they have joined Kabylie in its refusal to grant any legitimacy to an electoral process in which they no longer believe.

In reality, this election constitutes the silent expression of a Hirak that continues to live on in people’s minds. From now on, the regime faces a national contestation rather than a purely Kabyle one.

In Kabylie, the message is even harsher. Citizens have not only sanctioned those in power; they have also rejected the political class and civil society that had called for participation in the ballot. Trust is broken.

These elections have also revealed the collapse of the myth of the FFS’s grassroots presence in Kabylie. Its influence now seems essentially limited to networks built around the patronage of the municipalities it manages.

By giving up displaying the Amazigh emblem, by remaining silent on political detainees, and by adopting an increasingly conciliatory stance toward the regime, the FFS has deepened its break with its historical electorate.

The RCD, meanwhile, has remained faithful to its democratic principles and to the defense of the Amazigh cause. This consistency has earned it genuine popular sympathy. But sympathy is not enough to build a political victory. Lacking solid organization, an ambitious strategy, and leadership capable of transforming this momentum into an electoral force, the party has remained unable to establish itself as the true alternative. This weakness contributed to reinforcing the boycott.

In Bgayet (Béjaïa), this incapacity became even more apparent. Personal interests too often took precedence over the party’s interests, depriving the RCD of a historic opportunity to sweep the polls.

These legislative elections have demonstrated an implacable reality: political voting has practically disappeared. Patronage logics, local networks, place of birth, and private interests weighed more heavily than political projects.

A page is turning. Local elections will follow a different logic. They may offer sincere activists a final opportunity to reconnect with citizens.

Sincere activists must organize now to assert themselves in the upcoming local elections.

Braham Bennadji