Algeria's 72-year-old President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, re-elected in landslide

[JohnCenaFan28]

VETERAN President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won a third term today after results showed he garnered 90 per cent of votes in an Algerian vote marred by sporadic violence and boycotted by his main foes.
The 72-year-old, who changed the ex-French colony's constitution to allow himself another five years at the helm, won with 90.24 per cent of votes cast in the oil-rich north African nation, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni announced.

Turnout was 74.54 per cent, he added.

Louisa Hanoune, the only woman candidate and leader of the Trotskyite Workers' Party (PT), trailed in a distant second with 4.22 per cent.

None of the other four candidates received more than 2.5 per cent of votes.

However, even before the results had been announced, opposition candidates said the election was marred by voter intimidation and disputed the turnout of almost 13 million given by state radio.
Thursday's vote was held amid heavy security and Zerhouni announced that a policeman was killed and five other members of the security forces wounded in separate bids to disrupt the poll by radical armed Islamists.

The minister gave no details of the killing, but said three police and one soldier were wounded in bomb attacks, while another soldier was injured in a skirmish between an armed group and a military patrol.

The atmosphere appeared tense in the capital on voting day after the head of al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa called on Algerians to boycott the election in an audio message posted on an Islamist website on Monday.

Mr Bouteflika, first elected in 1999, was to have stood down at the election, but he provoked outrage among opposition parties by proposing an amendment to the constitution which was rubber-stamped by parliament in November.

The secular Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) party, one of main opposition groupss led by Said Sadi, denounced what it called a "constitutional coup" and refused to take part in the "pathetic" election.

Despite the criticism of the vote, French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a prompt message to Mr Bouteflika, offering him the "warmest and friendliest congratulations" and saying he was "committed to building a unique partnership between France and Algeria".

-The Australian

[John]

Thanks for the news, EeL.