Presidential election in Algeria: portrait of the three candidates in the running

On September 7, more than 24 million Algerian voters will go to the polls to choose the next president. Although the outcome seems already decided for some, voters will have to choose between three candidates with distinct backgrounds and programs.

Youcef Aouchiche, the youngest of the candidates, is no stranger to politics. Born in 1983 in Boghni (Tizi-Ouzou), he graduated in political science from the University of Algiers, where he actively participated in the Collective of Autonomous Students. His commitment earned him a six-month suspended prison sentence in 2004 for “illegal gatherings”before being acquitted on appeal.

In 2002, he joined the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), a secular opposition party founded in 1963, particularly influential in Kabylie and created in opposition to the FLN. In 2008, Youcef Aouchiche became a journalist in the written press, then parliamentary attaché until 2017. He then chaired the People’s Assembly of the wilaya of Tizi-Ouzou and became a senator in 2022. Since 2020, he has been the first secretary of the FFS, and in June 2024, he was designated as a presidential candidate with the slogan “Vision for tomorrow”.

Abdelaali Hassani Cherif, 57, originally from Magra in the wilaya of M’sila, has degrees in civil engineering and legal sciences. He was active from a young age in the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), an Islamist party. A member of the MSP office in his wilaya since 1995, he then held various positions, notably in the National People’s Assembly. Although the candidate initially planned was Abderrazak Makri, it was ultimately Abdelaali Hassani Cherif who represented the MSP in the election, with the slogan ” Opportunity “.

Finally, Abdelmajid Tebboune, born on November 17, 1945 in Mecheria, is a senior civil servant with a degree in economics and finance. Having held various ministerial positions from 1991 to 2017, he was elected President of Algeria on December 12, 2019 following the pro-democracy Hirak movement. A candidate for a second term as an independent, he is supported by several nationalist parties, with the slogan “For a triumphant Algeria”.