Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc issues clarification on its call for President Tebboune to seek a second term

The President of the Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc, Mr Djelloul Chetouane, issued a public clarification on 8 April 2024, following the institution's statement of 10 March 2024 calling on the President of the Republic, Mr Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to run for a second term, and the questions raised about the institution's motives.

The statement noted that the President's call for an early presidential election on 7 September surprised Algerian civil and political society — and even the international community, which follows Algeria's domestic politics closely given its international standing. It described the decision as a strong sign of the President's confidence in his people and the electorate, as the sole decision-makers and sole judges of what his programme has achieved and what remains.

The institution stressed that the President's reforms and fulfilled promises cannot be ignored, including:

• steering Algeria through the COVID-19 crisis while maintaining the State's social policy;
• raising the guaranteed national minimum wage to DA 20,000 and abolishing income tax on earnings of up to DA 30,000;
• introducing the unemployment allowance and raising it from DA 13,000 to DA 15,000 net, with the State covering health insurance for the unemployed;
• salary increases of DA 4,500 to 8,500 depending on grade over 2023 and 2024;
• integrating more than 600,000 Algerians into public-sector jobs;
• measures for the diaspora, support for housing and rural housing programmes, development of support for start-ups and micro-enterprises, and a revised investment law;
• establishing the High Council of Youth, the National Civil Society Observatory, the High Authority for Transparency and the Prevention and Fight against Corruption, and the Constitutional Court.

Internationally, the statement cited Algeria's restored standing, President Tebboune's refusal to accept financial compensation from France for its nuclear tests in Algeria and for colonial-era war crimes, which he regarded as an insult to the martyrs, Algeria's non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and its positions in support of the Palestinian people.

The statement concluded that the Bloc, which closely follows the country's social, political and economic situation, was the first to call on the President to seek a second term as a natural and wise way to continue and complete his reforms, out of conviction in the sincerity of his efforts to build a new and strong Algerian Republic, true to the pledge of the martyrs of November.