President Anie did not provide new figures on the participation rate, after announcing overnight “an average rate of 48% at the close of business” at 20:00 (19:00 GMT) on Saturday.
“The elections were marked by broad transparency” and “reflected the electoral maturity of the people”, greeted President Anie.
Hours earlier, however, one of Mr. Tebboune's rivals, the moderate Islamist candidate Abdelaali Hassani, had denounced “violations” during the election. According to his campaign team, there was allegedly “pressure on certain polling station officials to inflate the results”, particularly the turnout rate.
The same team described as a “bizarre term” the “average participation rate” announced by Anie, averaging the readings from the different regions. The turnout rate usually corresponds to the number of voters divided by the number of registered voters (24.5 million in total).
Turnout was a major issue in the election, while Mr Tebboune's victory was in little doubt for experts. Apart from the Islamist candidate, the other contender was Youcef Aouchiche, president of the Socialist Forces Front, the oldest opposition party anchored in Kabylia (east).