ALGERIA: ALGERIANS BEGIN VOTING IN WHAT IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE FREEST ELECTION SINCE INDEPENDENCE

Record ID: 574566

  • Title: ALGERIA: ALGERIANS BEGIN VOTING IN WHAT IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE FREEST ELECTION SINCE INDEPENDENCE
  • Date: 9th April 2004
  • Summary: (W5)ALGIERS, ALGERIA (8 APRIL, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. FIRST VOTERS ARRIVING AT POLLING STATION 2. VOTER SIGNING REGISTER 3. VOTER TAKING BALLOTS 4. VOTER COMING OUT OF BOOTH 5. VOTER CASTING BALLOT 6. PHOTOGRAPHERS 7. VOTER CASTING BALLOT 0.44 8. MV PRESIDENT ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA ARRIVING AT POLLING STATION; PHOTOGRAPHERS; MV BOUTEFLIKA TAKING BALLOTS; BOUTEFLIKA WALKING TO BOOTH; MEDIA: BOUTEFLIKA CASTING VOTE AND SIGNING REGISTER (6 SHOTS) 1.49 9. MV BOUTEFLIKA COMING OUT OF POLLING STATION AND RECEIVING BUNCH OF FLOWERS 2.08 10. SLV MEDIA; MV OPPOSITION CANDIDATE ALI BENFLIS ARRIVING AT VOTING POLL; MV ALI BENFLIS HOLDING VOTING CARD; ALI BENFLIS TAKING BALLOTS; SCU ALI BENFLIS; MV MEDIA: MV ALI BENFLIS CASTING HIS BALLOT (5 SHOTS) 3.09 11. MV /HAS ALI BENFLIS COMING OUT OF VOTING STATION AND WALKING AWAY; PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKING PICTURES OF ALI BENFLIS 3.29 12. MV OPPOSITION CANDIDATE ALI BENFLIS HOLDING BABY IN HIS ARMS, GREETING PEOPLE AND GETTING INTO CAR. 3.43 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ALGIERS, ALGERIA
  • Country: Algeria
  • Reuters ID: LVABMC066GO9MA2RVNGMABRBPG2E
  • Story Text: Algerians have started to vote in what is considered
    to be the freest election since independence.

    Algerians voted on Thursday (April 8, 2004) in a
    presidential election seen as a key test for the Muslim
    country's emerging democracy after a civil war between
    Islamist guerrillas and a secular government spread terror
    and chaos.

    The poll in the vast, energy-rich North African country is
    expected to be the freest since independence from France in
    1962 and signals Algeria's return to the international fold.

    President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the favourite of six
    candidates, expected to win an unprecedented second mandate
    until 2009. His main challenger is Ali Benflis, 59, his
    campaign manager in 1999 and prime minister until he sacked
    him a year ago.

    Bouteflika, 67, is credited with all but ending a holy war
    or jihad which flared after the military prevented a
    hardline Islamic party from gaining
    power at the ballot 12 years ago. At least100,000 people
    were killed in the decade of violence, according to the
    government. Human right groups say 150,000.

    Benflis and two other opposition candidates have cried
    foul and accused authorities of planning fraud but offered
    no evidence to back the
    allegation. Bouteflika was elected with nearly 74 percent
    of the vote in 1999 after all other candidates withdrew on
    the eve of election day, charging that the polls were rigged.

    Allegations of fraud have marred all elections in Algeria
    since multi-party politics took root 15 years ago, with the
    powerful and opaque military establishment acting as kingmaker.

    The army has pledged neutrality this time, an unprecedented
    statement of confidence in the country's fledging
    democratic credentials. Apart from Bouteflika and with the
    exception of Algeria's first head of state in the early
    60's, Ahmed Ben Bella, all presidents have been former generals.

    The Algerian election is being closely watched in the West
    and the United States which sees the country, because of
    its recent past and geopolitical situation, as crucial in
    its global war on terror.

    From Mediterranean shores to the Sahara desert, some
    40,000 polling stations opened at 8 a.m. and were scheduled
    to close 12 hours later. There were 18 million eligible
    voters in the country of 32 million.

    Other candidates included an Islamic leader, a Trotskyite
    woman -the first female presidential candidate in the
    country-and a champion of the Kabylie region, home to a
    restive ethnic Berber minority. If no candidate wins more
    than 50 percent of the vote, the election will go to a
    second round run-off between the two leading candidates on
    April 22. Official results are expected on Friday (April 9).


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