Algerians vote in parliamentary elections amid low turnout fears.

Algerian voters are casting ballots in parliamentary elections overshadowed by cost-of-living concerns and bans on candidates challenging the government. Nearly 25 million voters across Africa’s largest country by territory are choosing among 1,235 candidates for 407 seats with five-year terms in the lower house of Parliament. Turnout is a major concern after voters largely snubbed campaign events.

Algerians voted on Thursday in parliamentary elections amid concerns over turnout after a campaign season marked by low attendance at official campaign events. Electoral authorities barred 269 candidates from running for the 407-seat lower house of Parliament ahead of the vote. The government declared Thursday a paid national holiday to encourage turnout.

Rather than electoral politics, many people appear more concerned with everyday problems such as purchasing power and the decline of public services, against a backdrop of shrinking political, media and union freedoms. Many football-obsessed Algerians are also focused on the World Cup, where their national team faces Switzerland in a knockout match early Friday.

The outgoing pro-government majority holds about 300 seats, while the Islamist MSP party is the second-largest political force with 64 seats. Some MSP candidates were among the 269 barred from running, a group that notably included former leaders and activists of the Hirak pro-democracy movement, which helped push out long-serving autocratic President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019.

The government has increasingly squeezed freedoms under his successor, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was re-elected to a second term in 2024. In southern Algeria and Sahara Desert regions, voting was brought forward by 48 hours to allow the nomadic population to cast ballots in boxes transported in off-road vehicles belonging to the administration and escorted by police in Land Rovers.