ALGIERS, May 17: Algeria went to the polls on Thursday to elect a new parliament amid heightened security, fears of a resurgence of extremism and a boycott call from the north African wing of Al Qaeda.
Nearly 18.8 million Algerians were registered to cast ballots at more than 42,000 polling stations for the 389-seat National People’s Assembly, with 28 parties and 12,229 candidates in the run.
The day after two homemade bombs killed a police officer and injured five other people -- after Al-Qaeda had on Monday called on Algerians to boycott the poll -- no incidents had been reported by midday.
But at voting stations in Algiers visited by AFP reporters, turnout seemed light.
As of 2pm, turnout stood at 19.49 per cent, down eight percentage points from the same hour during the 2002 elections, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said. Total turnout in 2002 was 46.17 per cent.
The polls were to close at 7pm, although local authorities were entitled to keep them open for an extra hour if needed.
“There’s only old folks voting,” grumbled a poll observer from Algeria’s dominant party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), in the Babel Oued district of Algiers. “It’s a war veterans’ vote.”
“This is in order to get an apartment,” said a veiled Amina Abdoune, 24, who lives in a one-room flat with her parents and siblings. She deposited her ballot at a school, hopeful that the government would ease an acute housing shortage.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika cast his ballot at a school in the verdant hills above Algiers, accompanied by a bewildered-looking young nephew, bodyguards in dark glasses and live television news cameras.
The outcome is not expected to significantly change the political landscape in the country, with allies of the 70-year-old president expected to retain a majority of seats.
The voting was nevertheless being closely monitored by the United States and Europe.
On the eve of the vote, a police officer was killed and five other people injured by two homemade bombs in Constantine.
Interior Minister Zerhouni condemned Wednesday’s blasts as “an act of sabotage against the Algerian democratic system,” and urged Algerians to go to the polls in big numbers “to show their attachment to democracy”. “The best way to respond to such attacks is a strong turnout for the parliamentary elections,” he said on radio.
Heightened security has been put in place throughout the country.
The interior ministry has ordered trucks to stay off the roads, markets to be closed and sporting and cultural events to be postponed.
