ALGIERS, 10 April 2004 — President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was re-elected to a second term in a landslide vote, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday, after a bitter campaign that pitted the incumbent against five rivals.
Bouteflika’s former prime minister, who placed a distant second, immediately cried foul and said he would appeal.
The 67-year-old Bouteflika — who campaigned on a record of restoring calm to a nation wracked by a bloody insurgency for more than a decade — won Thursday’s balloting with 83 percent of the vote, said Interior Minister Nourredine Zerhouni.
Former Prime Minister Ali Benflis, who won only 8 percent of the vote, said he would file an appeal with the Constitutional Council, the body that validates electoral results.
Denouncing the elections as a “parody,” Benflis charged that there were irregularities “in thousands of polling stations across the country.”
Sensing victory, Bouteflika supporters celebrated in the streets of Algiers after polls closed Thursday night. Rival candidates immediately claimed that the Bouteflika camp had cheated.
But Zerhouni insisted the election — which he compared to a “national celebration” — was clean and said candidates had representatives at all polling stations to ensure a free and fair vote. In addition, at least 120 election observers were brought in from overseas to monitor the ballot.
“I must point out there were observers from all campaigns around the country. The votes were placed under full control of those representatives,” the minister said at a news conference in the Algerian capital.
However, one international election monitor said the election appeared fair.
“I know there are criticisms ... but in my view this was one of the best conducted elections, not just in Algeria, but in Africa and much of the Arab world,” said Bruce George, of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
“If there was fraud, it has to be investigated — and it’s up to the complainants to identify it,” George added.
Benflis, calling a news conference after results were announced, provided no proof that the vote was rigged but offered a laundry list of fraudulent tactics he alleged were used to power Bouteflika to victory. Among allegations were the expulsion of party observers from some polling stations and non-distribution of voter cards.
“We are going to take the necessary recourse with the Constitutional Council, but we do not have any illusions about how they will respond,” Benflis said in a veiled suggestion that the system worked in Bouteflika’s favor.
