Polling stations opened across Algeria on Thursday for legislative elections to renew the 407-seat People’s National Assembly for a five-year term, with 24.7 million registered voters called to the ballot. The vote, supervised by the Independent National Election Authority (ANIE), uses an open-list proportional system with preferential voting. Early voting for remote areas and the diaspora began days earlier. Yet public attention is fixed elsewhere: the national football team’s World Cup round-of-16 match against Switzerland, scheduled for the early hours of Friday, is widely expected to eclipse the election in popular engagement. Andrew Farrand, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who lived in Algeria from 2013 to 2020, told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung that “the entire society is watching the football match and hardly the elections,” reflecting a pervasive belief that the vote will have little bearing on daily concerns such as education, the economy and housing.

A total of 793 candidate lists—613 fielded by 32 political parties, one by an alliance and 125 independent—are competing. According to Algerian media, the electoral authority rejected roughly 30% of initial candidacies, affecting 1,762 individuals and 61 lists, citing ties to “corrupt money,” failure to meet legal requirements or “political nomadism.” The vetting hit both pro-government and opposition parties, including the Islamist Movement for National Construction and the secular Rally for Culture and Democracy in the capital. A new electoral law adopted in April limits deputies to two mandates and reinforces the separation of politics and business, a flagship commitment of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Parties that boycotted previous polls, such as the Socialist Forces Front, are participating this time, but analysts in Algiers expect the ruling National Liberation Front and allied formations to retain their dominance.

Viewed from Washington, the election unfolds against the backdrop of a contained protest movement. Farrand notes that the 2019 Hirak uprising, which forced former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power, has been effectively neutralised through a combination of financial appeasement and security measures. Football fan clubs and music groups that once helped structure the protests have seen their mobilising energy dissipate, leaving many activists disillusioned. The previous legislative election in 2021 recorded a turnout of just 23%, and similar apathy is anticipated this year, despite an official campaign urging citizens to “be an active partner in decision-making.”

Polling stations close at 7 p.m. local time, with a possible one-hour extension. Vote counting begins immediately, and the ANIE is expected to announce provisional results within 48 hours. The Constitutional Court will then review appeals and declare final results within ten days. The incoming assembly will face legislative tasks ranging from economic diversification to digital transformation, but the electoral framework and candidate screening have shaped a field that, according to regional observers, points toward continuity rather than a reshaping of the political landscape.