PThrough the gaps between the dilapidated buildings, through the red and green banners of the Mouloudia Club of Algiers, we glimpse the sea here and there. In the legendary district of Algiers, Bab El Oued, the blue of the bay is doubled by the blue of the police uniforms, very present throughout the capital on this presidential election day, Saturday, September 7. After the heatwave of the day, the winding streets descending towards the sea come alive. At the Émir-Abdelkader high school – formerly Bugeaud, the oldest in Algiers (dating from 1868), former barracks of the janissaries of the Regency –, which a certain Albert Camus attended, a father and his daughter, he in his sixties and she in her thirties, climb the grand staircase guarded by two policemen armed with their metal detectors.
“I vote in all elections. If we don’t say where we want to go, where will we go? My daughter and I don’t agree on the choice of candidate, I choose stability with everything that’s happening at the borders. But she wants change, it’s normal, she’s young,” says Zoubir, a smile enhanced by an elegant moustache, ironed shirt and linen trousers, a mischievous eye.
The daughter of this retired postal worker works in a medical laboratory. “Everything is in ruins, medicine, university, school… the bureaucratic management of imports does not allow us to run the lab normally. We need to free up initiatives,” says Asma. Change? “I’m voting for this young man from the FFS [Youcef Aouchi […] Read more
