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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has temporarily removed Interior Minister Brahim Merad from his duties to oversee his re-election campaign, stirring controversy among opposition parties, who see the move as a blow to all credibility of the September Presidential race.

"Mr Brahim Merad, Minister of the Interior, Local Authorities, and Urban Planning, will be placed on special leave from 14 August 2024 until 4 September 2024 for the purposes of the electoral campaign for the 2024 presidential elections," wrote the Algerian official bulletin on 7 August.

The decree notes that another official will handle Merad's duties at the Interior Ministry, but offers no further details.

Merad is expected to resume his ministerial role on 4 September, the very day the electoral campaign concludes–three days before general voting begins in Algeria and just one day before voting starts for the Algerian diaspora abroad. In Algeria, the interior ministry plays a key role in organising and securing the voting process.

Earlier this week, Tebboune announced Merad's appointment as campaign manager for his bid for a second term at the Mouradia Palace.

Opposition parties, already agitated by the election conditions, have branded Tebboune's decision as "provocative."

"The appointment of the Minister of the Interior as the campaign manager for the head of state signifies a loss of credibility (...) It is provocative," said the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) in a press release.

The RCD has boycotted the presidential elections, citing a lack of "democratic conditions."

On 15 July, the Workers Party, another major opposition group, withdrew from the race, denouncing an "electoral process that does not guarantee complete freedom and denies citizens the right to choose freely".

Other opposition parties have since exited the race, frustrated by what they describe as a "slow and inefficient" administrative process with complicated signature and endorsement collection.

Currently, two candidates are competing against Tebboune: Abdelkader Hassan, leader of the Islamist Movement for a Peace Society, and Youssef Aouchiche, First Secretary of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS).

For the first time since 1999, FFS, a pro-Amazigh party, has decided to participate in the presidential race, after shifting to a "more pragmatic and tactical" stance under the current leadership.

In March, Algiers announced early presidential elections for 7 September, advancing the date by three months without specifying the reasons.

This date change has unsettled the opposition and made collecting signatures and endorsements more challenging, leading to speculation that Tebboune's move was designed to catch opponents off guard and secure an easy win.

Freedoms under Tebboune's rule

The September ballot will be the first since Tebboune, the 78-year-old military-backed leader, assumed power in 2019. He emerged victorious in a low-turnout election following the Hirak movement—the mass peaceful protests that ousted four-term President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019.

At the time, activists boycotted the vote, demanding a broader overhaul of the political system or what they called the "mafia": politicians and businessmen who benefited under Bouteflika's regime and suppressed dissent.

After winning, Tebboune pledged to engage with protesters and tackle the corruption they protested.

However, during his first term, Tebboune, once Bouteflika's Prime Minister, banned protests and ramped up punishments for activists, journalists, and bloggers, using a broad anti-terrorism decree that jailed over 200 people for merely criticising his rule.

"Today, we are in a worse era than during Bouteflika (...) Fear is stronger than the opposition now in Algeria. The state has managed to terrorise the people", Zaki Hannache, the Hirak icon now living in exile, told °®Âþµº in an interview back in 2022.