Algeria arrests dozens over alleged election fraud

They are suspected of being involved in “signature sales” for the upcoming presidential election set for September 7. Candidates are required to gather large numbers of them to be eligible to stand.

“Sixty-eight defendants were placed in temporary detention, three were placed under judicial supervision, and six were released after hearings,” the court said in a statement.

Last week, Lotfi Boudjemaa, attorney general at the Court of Algiers, told state news agency APS that “more than 50 elected officials” admitted to having unlawfully received money to endorse presidential candidates.

On Monday, the three candidates placed under judicial supervision were named as Saida Neghza, former minister Belkacem Sahli, and a relatively unknown hopeful named Abdelhakim Hamadi.

While they are not under arrest, they will be required to regularly check in with the authorities until after the investigation is concluded.

Boudjemaa said last week those involved in the fraud “will be arrested.”

In a press conference before officially submitting her candidacy last month, Neghza complained of “hardships” in the process of registering and getting the signatures.

She said she hoped that “the electoral process takes place in a climate of transparency and integrity, without any favoritism.”

To qualify to appear on the ballot candidates are required to present a list of at least 50,000 individual signatures from registered voters or from 600 members from at least 29 of Algeria’s provincial assemblies.

Only three hopefuls, including incumbent Abdelmadjid Tebboune, had their candidacies approved for the September 7 election.

Abdelaali Hassani of the moderate Islamist party the Movement of Society for Peace and Youssef Aouchiche of the center-left Socialist Forces Front are the two candidates who will stand against Tebboune.

The other 13 hopefuls all had their candidacies rejected after failing to muster the required number of signatures of support.