Much of the build up and background for this is in Watch the Throne.

As election day came ever closer, the campaign began to heat up. In July it was announced who would be eligible to run: independent Guermit Bounouira, MSP’s candidate, FLN’s candidate, RND’s candidate, Future Front’s candidate, and El Bina’s candidate. A man claiming to represent the EFF’s Algerian wing ran ‘representing the left’, but unfortunately he was unable to gather enough support to be eligible. Although his rallies attracted large crowds, the overwhelming majority came with phones in hand to laugh at his antics. Clips of his speeches became quite popular in Arab social media circles, as he waved the Quotations of Mao Zedong and declared a revolutionary united african front against european aggression. Given the state of hostilities, his ‘movement’ was dead before it started.

As the race continued, MSP, RND and Guermit Bounouira appeared as the clear frontrunners, with Future Front and El Bina never being predicted to have much support and FLN floundering in public interviews. Behind the scenes, Guermit’s, and by extension le pouvoir’s campaign, was running according to plan. Astroturfed social media hashtags were being circulated with handpicked soundbites from his fiery speeches, an effective way of captivating many of the younger generation who’d sworn off voting or watching state-sponsored news networks. Similarly, the slip ups of other candidates were spread far and wide in Algerian Twitter circles, some even making it into election segments on French news channels. His secret state support also earned him some slightly positive news coverage (too positive would’ve risked giving the game up, given his ‘opposition’ to the Algerian state apparatus), his calls to embrace the founding principles of Algeria, commitment to anti-colonialism and self-determination, helped appeal to many of the older generation and establishment voters, who remembered a time when this rhetoric was drilled into them in school.

The voting occurred in December, which unlike previous elections was marred by relatively little political violence. Some more dogmatic Hirak supporters still turned out to destroy poll boxes, but the substantial pacification of the movement in order to support Bounouira made these groups relatively manageable for the beefed up security presence. The final tally stood at:

• 44% Guermit Bounouira

• 30% MSP

• 10% El Binaa

• 8% FLN

• 4% Future Front

• 4% RND

Although Bounouira technically held a significant lead, Algerian law requires a majority for a President to be elected. This was however a massive boost for his campaign, who hailed this as proof that his win was inevitable in the two weeks before the re-vote. His backroom handlers were more than pleased, as their newfound experiment with social media manipulation proved to be a worthwhile investment. Following their poor performances, RND, Future Front and FLN announced their candidates’ withdrawals from the race. MSP’s candidate emerged as the second place choice, their popularity coming from their relative success in previous parliamentary elections, putting their politicians in the spotlight.

Two weeks later, the second round of votes concluded:

• 54% Guermit Bounouira

• 34% MSP

• 12% El Binaa

Bounouira, supposedly against all odds, has been elected as Algeria’s next President. His ability to appeal to previous Hirak boycotters and effective use of social media as an outreach tool has not only boosted his historic campaign, but the overall voter turnout to 52%. In his acceptance speech, he has committed to reassessing the way Algeria engages internationally to ensure it is more in line with the nations founding principles, a statement which analysts believe may mean increased tensions with Morocco.

As Bounouira exited the stage, now the President of one of Africa’s most powerful nation, he doubled over and vomited, no longer able to disguise the shaking of his hands that betrayed his public demeanor of a fiery and determined man. As he looked up, his limo rolled around, the back window slowly rolling down to reveal Tebboune, a wicked grin on his face. “Congratulations” he said,” You’re one of us now”.

Bounouira began to wonder if being tortured to death in a military prison was the right choice after all.