Updated August 5, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.*
ALGIERS — Three women have announced their candidacy in Algeria’s presidential election, on Sept. 7, which will potentially mark a new chapter in the North African county, five years after peaceful protests forced the removal of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
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The three women are Zoubida Assoul, lawyer and head of the Union for Change and Progress party, and Saida Neghza, president of the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises, and Louisa Hanoune, head of the leftist Workers’ Party (PT). The latter recently announced she was quitting the presidential race over “unfair conditions,” just days after current President Abdelmajid Tebboune said he would seek re-election.
Louisa Hanoune
Although she announced in July that she was withdrawing her candidacy, Hanoune’s efforts have paved the way for women to compete not only in the presidential but also parliamentary races.
Hers is a long history of advocating freedom, democracy and workers’ rights. Over the past two decades, Hanoune joined the presidential race three times (in 2004, 2009 and 2014), hoping that a miracle would happen. She hoped that she would be able to reach the runoff and win to change the prevailing view in Algeria that the post of president is only for men.
In 2019, Hanoune was imprisoned after a military court convicted her of conspiring against the authority of the army, and conspiring against the authority of the state. The PT boycotted the 2019 presidential elections to protest her imprisonment.
She was certainly well aware that it is difficult for a woman to win. But she was also aware that running alongside men will encourage other women to take part in this experience and limit men’s control over the race. Hanoune’s decision to quit the presidential race last month came two days after President Abdelmajid Tebboune announced he would run for re-election. In a Facebook post, she said that the “legal framework had been skewed” to prevent opponents of Tebboune from running.
The number of women in the legislative council has gradually increased since Algeria’s independence from France in 1962. That year, female fighters against French colonialism, including Meriem Belmihoub, Maryam Belmihoub, Fatima Mechich, Safia Baazi, Fadéla Mesli, joined the country’s first Constituent Assembly. Fighter Zuhur Wanasi was the first woman minister when she was appointed to lead the Ministry of Social Protection.
Today, there are 120 women in the country’s parliament. And Algeria ranked first in the Arab country in terms of female representation in the parliament with 31.6% in 2012, and 25.8% in 2017.
Zoubida Assoul
Assoul, a lawyer and former judge, gained fame in 2009 when she took part in activities opposing the election of Bouteflika. At the time, his declining health stirred debate over his eligibility to govern. She again participated in such activities in 2014, when Bouteflika decided to run for a fourth term.
Arrested several times for her political activism, Assoul played a major role in the peaceful protest movement that forced Bouteflika to resign in 2019. She also boycotted the 2019 presidential race.
She announced her bid for the 2024 race, after realizing that the boycott helped the government tighten its grip on the country, especially people’s rights, media and trade union activity.
Saida Neghza
Naghza is one of Algeria’s most prominent entrepreneurs, with investments in Algeria, Senegal and other African countries. For years, she has chaired the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises employer’s organization. She entered the political arena last September when she sent a letter to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune complaining of “persecution and various pressures on Algerian businessmen by various representatives of the state.”
Her letter stirred controversy. The official Algerian News Agency blasted Naghza, who was forced to leave the country for a while for fear of persecution, according to Jeune Afrique magazine.
Naghza’s candidacy may revive a debate in Algeria about the relationship between the business community and politics.
Women and the presidency
While political observers believe that the upcoming election will be special due to these three candidates, but their chances remain low given competition from other politically and financially powerful candidates, including the incumbent Tebboune.
“The presidential candidacy of three women is a big and important headline in the country, but it’s still a long way for a woman to reach [the presidential] El Mouradia palace,” said political analyst Hadda Hizam. “Traditions and social customs play a major role in determining women’s role in society and their political orientations. The mission of these women is very difficult in a society that still bases its ideas on religious beliefs and believes in the saying, ‘May Allah curse a people ruled by a woman’.”
There are legal and political factors that contribute greatly to the exclusion of women from senior political positions in Algeria.
It’s still a long way for a woman to reach [the presidential] El Mouradia palace.
Both men and women are legally allowed to run for the presidency. And the adoption of a gender quota law, which allowed a significant number of women to join the parliament in 2012 and 2017, has not had a significant impact; there are still fewer women in parliament than hoped for.
That is because parties selected female candidates for parliament without any political experience to create the illusion of adherence to the quota law. The result was a poor performance by women in parliament, which led to the strengthening of a societal outlook that does not, to a large extent, accept the idea of women’s involvement in politics.
Algeria’s political authorities, parties, organizations and the media have not fully accepted the idea of that woman are capable of holding any senior position, including the presidency of the country. They are all responsible for the continuation of stereotypical perception toward women.
*Originally published August 3, 2024, this article was updated August 5, 2024 with new information about Louisa Hanoune as well as enriched media.
