ALGIERS: Veteran President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won a third term yesterday after results showed he garnered 90.24 percent of votes in an Algerian election marred by sporadic violence and boycotted by his main foes.
The 72-year-old leader changed the ex-French colony’s constitution to allow himself another five years at the helm.
Announcing the result, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said voter turnout was 74.54 percent.
Louisa Hanoune, the only woman candidate and leader of the Trotskyite Workers’ Party (PT), came a distant second with 4.22 percent. None of the other four candidates received more than 2.5 percent of the vote.
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 attempts to disrupt the poll by armed militants.
The minister gave no details of the killing, but said three policemen and a 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 a website on Monday. Bouteflika, first elected in 1999, was to have stood down at the election, but he angered opposition parties by proposing an amendment to the constitution, which was approved by Parliament in November.
The secular Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) party, one of main opposition groups led by Said Sadi, called it a “constitutional coup” and refused to take part in the election.
Nicolas Sarkozy, president of former colonial power France, sent a prompt message to Bouteflika, offering him the “warmest and friendliest congratulations” and saying he was “committed to building a unique partnership between France and Algeria.” The European Union’s Czech presidency also issued a congratulatory statement, describing Algeria as an “important and reliable partner” in the Mediterranean region. “Its role in the mutual fight against terrorism and illegal migration is significant and irreplaceable,” it said.
Aside from Hanoune, others appearing on the ballot were Djahid Younsi of the El-Islah party, Moussa Touati of the Algerian National Front (FNA), Ali Fawzi Rebaine of the AHD-54 nationalist party, and independent Mohamed Said.
