Ousting of Bouteflika
By: V-Dem Staff
May 13, 2019
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria resigned on 2nd April 2019 after massive protests. This was after he announced his candidacy for a fifth straight presidential term, having already served as president of Algeria since 1999. Years of economic growth and decreasing unemployment gave Bouteflika high levels of support. However, his last public appearance had been in 2013, right before his health took a drastic turn for the worse. Many Algerians did not support a president that they had not seen since 2013 and felt that his candidacy for a new presidential term was a farce.
Algeria is governed by the army which controls the country. Appointed by the army, the president has a figurehead role and elections are a façade. This political setup, has resulted in massive political corruption including massive vote buying during elections.
V-Dem’s Country Graph tool, illustrates the changes in election vote buying in Algeria since 1998. Election vote buying captures the level vote and/or turnout buying during elections. It is scaled from 0 to 4, with 0 indicating widespread and almost nationwide vote/turnout buying and 4, no evidence of vote/turnout buying. In general, the level of vote buying has been substantial, consistent with wide-spread view that elections where far from free and fair.
